It was a whirlwind Monday, starting with an early morning grocery delivery. I use Instacart nearly every week, an especially helpful modern convenience, especially when Trevor travels. The morning was sunny, and it was set to be much warmer, so I felt motivated scooting around the house while responding to texts about fruits and boxed goods. Things got weird at delivery—the shopper didn’t announce themself, dumped my groceries by the garage, and then texted me to ask me to tip them more (I promise I’m a good tipper).

I was confused by the whole experience and reminded how much I prefer things the slower, more old-fashioned way—but there wasn’t much time to ruminate on that because this is the diary of a modern woman, and my children had orthodontist appointments. I love taking them to the orthodontist because the doctor is a friend of ours and so everyone in the office treats us like family they haven’t seen in awhile. I also bumped into one of Trevor’s high school friends in the waiting room, which restored the feeling of community that had been a little dissolved after the grocery situation.

I felt this tension all day—the longing for simple and the need to keep up—which I think is a pretty prevalent struggle of the times, especially for women, especially for parents. The rest of the afternoon, I took my oldest daughter shopping for middle school, talking through our plans to handle extracurriculars, technology, friends, etc. I won’t list any of our decisions here because I learned long ago that the internet, while it can be a community, loves nothing more than to dole out parenting advice—and criticism. More tension.

We got home in the evening and had a light dinner as a family, all together again, catching up on Trevor’s adventures at the lake and listening to Steely Dan.