realtalknic

You know it's summer in our house when that 1st Saturday comes and the macaroni salad is in the fridge waiting for the boys to come and get it. It's a summer Saturday staple. From Memorial Day to Labor day....you can count on it. As I stood at the island making it this week I found myself thinking back to an incident where my traditional tuna macaroni summer salad told us everything you need to know about how to talk about race. With love and laughter. We were heading out on our family vacation, a 12 hour road trip from NJ to Disney. Cell phones weren't a big deal then but we were fancy with walkie talkies in each car. After about 3 hours we decided to hit the rest stop and have some lunch. My best friend, who is white, had packed a beautiful basket of cold cuts and breads. My kids ran to her basket and made sandwiches. I had a cooler filled with my tuna and macaroni and while we eat healthy most of the time....I had fried up some chicken for the road. Of cours...

There's a party going on right here....a celebration....to last ..ok, ok, you know the words. And it seems like I am singing that song all the time. We love to entertain. Any occasion is a good enough occasion to celebrate. Sunny day? Let's party. Rainy day? Let's celebrate. The more the merrier. But this holiday had me feeling anxious. The list was growing longer, folks I didn't know. And I am a worrier. I worry about things that may never happen but I cannot turn it off. Like a pesky leak it just doesn't stop and it seeps into the corners of my mind. A few years ago we readied the house for a party, our 1st in this home. It was picture perfect down to the napkins and flowers and scented candle in the bathroom. Sometime during the evening the candle was dropped and the toilet seat burned. (even a reader here for the 1st time knows that I cannot make this up) Yes, the brand new house toilet seat cover marred with brown burns! I found this the next day doing my a...