Abbey Roy

Newark Advocate Yesterday I spoke on the phone with a mom friend who is grieving.

Graduation season is a good time for reflection on the journey of your child's independence and how they filled "big shoes."

Newark Advocate Summer is in full swing at the Roy household, and with all the extraneous papers and trappings of life with three kids in

Newark Advocate There are many lessons I hope to pass down to my kids in the relatively small window of time that I have them under my

There are many lessons I hope to pass down to my kids in the relatively small window of time that I have them under my roof: Aside from basics like getting dressed and graduating out of diapers, there’s chores, of course, and how to be humble and kind, and how to load the dishwasher correctly and the importance of moving your body and eating your vegetables.

I have this thing where I impulsively invent house projects, and Mr. Roy loves it.

Our family has enjoyed watching the Olympics over the last couple weeks, from swimmer Katie Ledecky’s jaw-dropping 1,500-meter freestyle finish to Simone Biles’ feats of grace and strength on the vault and floor to judo faceoffs between countries we probably couldn’t locate on a map, executing moves we don’t understand.

My husband and I have different aesthetics in terms of home décor, and in the 16 years we’ve been married, he has basically acquiesced in every area because he is gracious and not vehemently opinionated.

We walked into the place, situated on a modest small-town street corner in the middle of a modest small town — the kind of town you don’t visit unless you have a specific purpose or happen to be passing through — with a handwritten “Open” sign displayed in the window and the hours posted on a sandwich-board sign out front.

I guess it’s a thing amongst the younger set these days to use the word “Ohio” as an insult, and my inner born-and-bred Ohioan is trying to reconcile this with my beautiful experience as a lifelong resident of the Buckeye State.