Dana Burland

Last February on a family trip to Arizona I got an idea. That first day it only warmed up to 60º but I laid out on our AirBnB’s astroturfed backyard and defrosted... and thought about handstands. I’d always wanted to be able to do one, but being in my mid-30s with 2 kids changes things physically. It seemed like my handstand window had closed, even though these 2 kids being a bit older and able meant my time for me window was reopening. Well, what’s the worst that could happen? (...a snapped neck) I found a YouTube video on how to start, placed my hands near a wall, tried and miserably failed multiple times to go vertical. I tried again. And again. And again and again and again. At home, at the gym, at my parent’s house. It took a lot of guts, but not all that much time to practice a few minutes a day. Eventually it took less guts. I could get myself up, then worked to get steady, then worked on my form. Which is still not great, mind you. I handstand a few times a week now. Al...

Ordering a Paw Patrol cake for someone’s 4th birthday. Sneaking into their rooms at night to put treats in their holiday themed mailboxes–passed down to me from my mom. C absolutely loving the soccer jersey I bought him while traveling abroad, where I was thinking about him and missing him so much. Rainbow Bear, Blankie, Timmy, Baby Yoda. The boys’ beloved stuffies they call their babies. Which makes me a grandma already, oy. The focus of Adrian writing an A, desperate to get the two vertical lines to meet up at the top. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t. And how fiercely independent he is, wanting to buckle his helmet and car seat. Wouldn’t you know, often he does it. And when we talked about what things we knew–smart things that filled our brains like math and reading and how to cook–when asked what was in his brain, A replied: “Apple pie”. And Cam, who performed BEAUTIFULLY in his first piano recital. A first piano recital is no “little thing” at all. Heck, I star...