Claire Bidwell Smith

It's a tiresome fact that Veronica looks just like her Dad, but I came across these old photos of me the other day. According to the dates on the back, I am just about a year old. There's a similarity there, right? Right? (click to enlarge)   Now I just wish there was a similarity Read more…

I was interviewed this week for an article called The Way We Grieve, about the various coping methods that have arisen in today's modern age. It's a subject I'm always interested in discussing, particularly in how it pertains to the internet. Although it didn't appear in the article, the interviewer and I talked at length Read more…

Three years ago today I closed the door to my little Venice Beach apartment for the very last time and climbed behind the driver's seat of a moving truck, embarking on one of the biggest adventures of my life. Upending my life in Los Angeles and moving across the country for a guy I'd only Read more…

When my father first moved out to California he lived with his elderly sister who died of pancreatic cancer only a few months after moving in with her. This move for him had been temporary. My mother had only been dead a little over a year when he decided to leave Atlanta and head to Read more…

My father died seven years ago today. He was 83 years old and had been battling cancer on and off for ten years. He was at home in the end, where he wanted to be. Home was just a little condominium in Southern California, but it was where he felt peaceful. I'll never forget that Read more…

When I was growing up everyone thought my father was really my grandfather. I didn't mind that much. I knew that we were different, that my little family with my older father and glamorous mother weren't quite like the other families we knew. My father was really good at making light of it. People would Read more…

As I write this I've just put Veronica down for bed and I'm listening to her cry over the monitor. The little red lights blaze across the top of the gadget with each of her cries. They taper off into aahahahaahhhhs that are so sweet they cause my chest swells with warmth. She's not really Read more…

Sure, maybe it's just because I miss him. Or maybe it's that they really do have the same eye color. Or perhaps it's simply that my little daughter with her jowly cheeks and practically-bald head actually looks like an old man. Whatever the case, sometimes I look at Veronica and I get a flash-sense of Read more…

We had a really lovely weekend. Yesterday was Greg's 31st birthday.  We started celebrating on Friday with a dinner with friends at Nightwood, officially my new favorite restaurant in Chicago. (Greg and I like to play this game where we ask each other what 3 restaurants we would return to if we moved away from Read more…

V is going to see her grandparents today and they couldn't be more excited to get their hands on her. Greg's parents are wonderful grandparents. They're so involved and interested and generous. I think if we lived in the same city they would be over every day, wanting to spend time with Veronica and give Read more…