I am writing this on my phone from a jungle on the beach in Costa Rica. My hammock is slung between a palm tree full of coconuts and an almond tree whose fruit must not be in season, though surely not long past. Almonds in their strange porous shells lie scattered across the sand. Is a coconut tree called a palm tree? The leaves look exactly like a palm my mother has in a pot in her house, but enormous.
Last week I wrote a piece about my dad for Arkansas Strong. It was in response to a question I get a lot: What drives you to fight so hard for public education? Interested folks can read the piece at www.arstrong.org.
John Lennon, in "Beautiful Boy," sings "Life is what happens to you while you re busy making other plans." I have thought of that these last few weeks as February gave way to March, my work felt all-consuming, and my two youngest beautiful girls had their birthdays. Stella Jane turned 11 on Feb. 26. Adelaide was 16 March 2.
If I seem off, it is because I am. My deadline for this column has changed from writing and editing it up to the 11th hour to the need to have it done by noon Wednesday. I keep thinking I will adjust, but so far every time I write something new it feels old by the time Sunday gets here.