by Natalie Ogbourne | Dec 31, 2015 | Yellowstone Stories
At our Christmas celebration the cover image of a magazine in my parents’ living room caught my eye. It featured Adele. I like reading about celebrities, usually in germ-infested copies of People magazine at the doctor’s office. I wasn’t at...
by Natalie Ogbourne | Dec 2, 2015 | Yellowstone Stories
I woke, just after midnight, to contractions. Forcing myself to remain motionless under the covers, I tried to convince myself that it was nothing more than a long series of Braxton-Hicks and go back to sleep. But the contractions were strong and regular, each one...
by Natalie Ogbourne | Nov 4, 2015 | Yellowstone Stories
Once upon a time I looked at the empty picnic tables at interstate rest areas and wondered Who uses those? I never saw them in use and our stops were always quick and utilitarian. Then J and I had kids. Each of our three children was less than a...
by Natalie Ogbourne | Oct 7, 2015 | Yellowstone Stories
The girls and I emerged from the cozy, fire-warmed lobby, braced ourselves against the chilled morning air, and took to the sidewalk that led to Mammoth Hot Spring’s historic chapel. Aware of the cow elk lounging on the lawn between the buildings along the way, I...
by Natalie Ogbourne | Sep 1, 2015 | Yellowstone Stories
Summer’s green is wearing thin. Before long, it will give way to the colors of autumn. Some years, summer’s heat and its green march across the lawn arrive with a suddenness that suggests we’ve gone straight from winter to summer with no stop for spring. This...
by Natalie Ogbourne | Aug 18, 2015 | Yellowstone Stories
Because the things of earth end, because beginnings arrive disguised as endings, because this week brings both to our family in the form of college–a repost. It made sense when I was young. The cicada’s song signaled school’s imminent return. I enjoyed school,...