For much of our son’s life, my parents have watched their youngest grandchild one night a week, giving my husband and me a much-needed date night. We use said date nights to discuss Important Things. My favorite topics include moving furniture, second-guessing our summer vacation plans, and dropping little bombs like, “What do you think of me quitting my job and going back to school for another useless graduate degree in the arts?”

This wasn’t exactly how I phrased it two-and-a-half years ago, when I was fresh off my second AWP Conference and newly hip to the notion that fully-funded MFA programs are a thing. What I said was, “By the way, I’m applying for this degree in creative writing, but they only accept like 4% of applicants so I’m probably not gonna get in…”

But I did. And, after getting married (10 years and counting!) and becoming a parent, it was the hardest and best thing I have ever done. I read a lot. I wrote a lot. I cried a lot and laughed even more. I had six pieces accepted for publication during my time as a student, including an essay that won a fancy prize and a short story that was nominated for a Pushcart. I also had, to put it frankly, the best cohort in the history of MFA cohorts (and I’m pretty sure this is, like, scientific fact. My mother spent the majority of our graduation reception asking my professors, “Is it normal for all of the students to be so nice to one another?” And they told her it was not; we were and hopefully will remain an anomaly.)

Here is a picture of my cohort at our graduation reading. I’m on the left wearing a very expensive pair of Rujuta Sheth pants to which I treated myself as a graduation gift (they’re Fair Trade!! They have pockets!!!)

And now, if you’ll excuse me, after two years of full-time grad-schooling-while-parenting, I am going to take a nap.

PS: Next Wednesday (June 10, 2026), I’ll be teaching an hour-long online writing workshop, “Writing Humor in Creative Nonfiction” through The Writers House at Rutgers-Camden University. It’s for new and experienced writers alike and I am particularly excited about the backdrop in the slideshow that I am putting together 😉