Author: Donna Schwartz Mills

After Newtown: Holding Them Close

After Newtown: Holding Them Close

Posted by | Dec 17, 2012 | , |

Friday was a minimum day at my daughter’s school, as she wrapped a week of finals before the annual holiday break. I usually bitch and moan about having to quit work at 12:00 to drive to school and get her, but not this time. By then, I knew what had happened in Newtown, and I could not wait to see my kid and hold her close — which has been my inclination whenever the nation has been touched by tragedy.

It is what I did after Columbine, when she was just a toddler, and what I did in 1999, when white supremacist Buford Furrow shot women and children at the Jewish Community Center a couple of miles from our home (after we got the hell out of the neighborhood while the police were conducting a manhunt). It was how I handled my shock and disbelief after the fall of the World Trade Center her second week of kindergarten. I hugged my daughter after each and every report I heard of a child who was abducted… or harmed… or killed. I held her close and I wondered if there was any way to ensure that she would always be safe.

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Breakfast with a Beatle

Breakfast with a Beatle

Posted by | Dec 14, 2012 | , |

The Beatles were in the news this week, with Paul McCartney headlining the 12-12-12 concert benefiting victims of Hurricane Sandy. And last weekend was the anniversary of the death of John Lennon. So I was reminded of this post I wrote back in 2005, describing my meeting with another member of the seminal band of my youth.

It’s obvious that you guys love the show biz stories. So in a pathetic attempt to get you all to keep coming and commenting — and even come back to read my posts about how boring and mundane my life is now — I’m going to honor a request and expand upon one of the items I mentioned in yesterday’s post: My interview with Ringo.

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Christmas Time for the Jews

Posted by | Dec 12, 2012 | |

Each December, we meet our friends Debbie and Tim for dinner at Rosti, followed by a trip to Tapia Brothers to get our Christmas trees. We’ve got 10 years of photos of our girls frolicking around the big prop tractor and real live farm animals. It is a holiday tradition for our mixed-religion nuclear family living in a city without anyone else to rely on.

I used to try to delay the Christmas decorations until Chanukah had come and gone, except during those years when the two December holidays overlap, in which case, it is impossible — or those years when we spend Christmas with my husband’s family in Wales, in which case I lobby not to put up decorations at all, because we’re not home to enjoy them. (I usually lose that fight, but I try.)

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The Night My Kid Met Betty White

The Night My Kid Met Betty White

Posted by | Dec 11, 2012 | , |

Betty White is a national treasure.

My 16-year-old daughter has loved Betty ever since she stole “The Proposal” from Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. Thanks to that movie, a whole new generation fell in love with the sweet and salty persona that have made her America’s grandmother.

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Cardiff and London, 2003: Earliest Posts at SoCal Mom

Cardiff and London, 2003: Earliest Posts at SoCal Mom

Posted by | Dec 7, 2012 | , , |

Why am I posting old photos of Cardiff and London today?

Because today marks NINE years of writing SoCal Mom! The launch of this new site is one way I’m commemorating my “blogiversary,” especially as I speed to to the decade mark. (What do you get a blogger for her tenth blogiversary? You have a year to figure it out!)

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