School opened today despite the pandemic. I cried when I left my daughter at the curb.
The red and white tape that resembled the scene of a murder guided me to a place to leave my fifth grade daughter, far from the school...
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Amy Aves Challenger
- Apr 15, 2020
- 4 min
Do You Feel Like An Outsider During This Pandemic? So Does My Neighbor (I Think)
While I pick dandelions and wild garlic with my preteen daughter to cook for dinner, our Swiss neighbor polishes his driveway, or maybe...
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Amy Aves Challenger
- Feb 28, 2020
- 4 min
How To Curb Coronavirus Anxiety and Help Your Family Stay Healthy
I hope these ideas help others too, while living in the midst of that horrible word pandemic:
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Amy Aves Challenger
- Feb 6, 2020
- 4 min
When My Son Asked “Why’d You Even Have Kids Mom?” Here’s What I Wanted To Tell Him.
...maybe we have our children to actively join the question of existing, to struggle, and then identify the beauty of small triumphs, beyon
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Amy Aves Challenger
- Oct 3, 2019
- 3 min
When Motherhood Hurts, Feed Yourself
Recently I’ve had a lot of trouble in my life, and if you’re anywhere near my age, you probably can relate. Stuff happens. Kids get hurt...
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Amy Aves Challenger
- May 2, 2019
- 4 min
Lessons from Dandelions and Refugees
©Illustration by Amy Aves Challenger Already this year, the dandelions spread their way across the fields around my new home, painting...
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Amy Aves Challenger
- Nov 22, 2018
- 2 min
Because of You Child, I Will Always Give Thanks
Twelve years ago I reclined in a hospital bed on Thanksgiving day with a catheter attached to my lower half. My water had broken, and my...
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Amy Aves Challenger
- Sep 3, 2018
- 4 min
We Are Not Alone
You’re not alone. I want to say this to the mom who dares to tell me that she’s completely disorganized, that it feels like she’s not...
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Amy Aves Challenger
- Aug 17, 2018
- 3 min
Why Does Life Have To Go On So Quickly, Despite The Hard Stuff?
Those people who suffer— they’re the salt of this ocean and tree covered place. They’re the chance to find a purpose, to witness what’s so s
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Amy Aves Challenger
- Aug 15, 2018
- 3 min
May This Day Be A Happy "First" For All Children
Think and pray and hope for every single child’s first day today and tomorrow. Think of every child's chance to learn, to live, to do so
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Amy Aves Challenger
- Jul 14, 2018
- 3 min
Quieting My Brutal, Relentless Inner Critic
I’m wordless sometimes. I know—it’s hard to believe:) But some days I wonder how a word could possibly come from me that would matter to...
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Amy Aves Challenger
- Jul 4, 2018
- 3 min
When People (and Pets) Leave Us
Look what each of us is given— a chance in the other. A chance to learn, to be nutty, to get messy, to get hurt, to grow.
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Amy Aves Challenger
- Jun 17, 2018
- 4 min
How My Dad Slayed The Stigma of Alzheimer’s While Traveling To Europe
Isn't it funny? I see his strength and tenacity more as he fights his disease than I could see during his years of health. And so this f
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Amy Aves Challenger
- Jun 11, 2018
- 4 min
Oh No, Here Comes THAT Mom
That mom. She’s thinner, cooler, has more friends. She’s got better-behaved kids, a husband that loves her more, a better home
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Amy Aves Challenger
- Jun 8, 2018
- 3 min
Lots of People With Depression Look "Just Fine"
“She looks fine to me,” another mom said. I was talking about someone whom we both knew suffers with severe depression. “Depression looks...
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Amy Aves Challenger
- May 30, 2018
- 3 min
What If My Child Didn’t Have…
We need the vulnerable ones to unglue us from our selfies, our cliques, our over-packed agendas, our power-driven races to one more race.
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Amy Aves Challenger
- Apr 28, 2018
- 3 min
Finding Peace— Anywhere
I once thought that I needed a place like Zürich, Switzerland or Marin County, California to find peace. I had to have beauty like you...
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Amy Aves Challenger
- Apr 25, 2018
- 4 min
Lessons Learned From An SUV Sliding From A Sierra Cliff
It was dark, and I was driving alone up a steep incline on the side of a Sierra mountain. All three car seats behind me were empty. On...
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Amy Aves Challenger
- Apr 23, 2018
- 4 min
How It Feels to Be Born Again (Not In The Way You Think)
I never knew getting old, being a mom, would feel this way. Some mornings after I’ve swept the toast crumbs away, mopped up the splatters...
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Amy Aves Challenger
- Apr 15, 2018
- 4 min
The (Perhaps Healthy) Loneliness of Expat Life
I’ve written a bit about the loveliness of expat life— about the beautiful shades of smiling mothers and children; the faces representing...
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