Cecilia Leibovitz

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Cecilia Leibovitz is mom to four kids, ages 3, 7, 12, and 16. She is the founder and creative director of online shop craftsburykids.com. Cecilia has a penchant for old houses, vintage toys, reading and poetry.




Contributor's Stories


    Blackberries

    Posted on May 12th, 2010 by



     

    This was before we took
    the tiny apartment in the city.
    We had that rambling Victorian,
    kids coming out of every
    window and door.

    Through that one pane
    of wavy glass,
    left over from when
    the house was first built,
    all the other houses
    and the street,
    looked like an old
    photograph–
    some details you couldn’t
    quite make out,
    so you’d imagine them in.

    Underneath the stairs
    a triangular wall
    framed a little wooden closet
    that had a hook and eye lock
    to keep it closed.

    If you crouched down
    low and opened it,
    you could look
    through that door,
    where there was once
    a long path
    leading to the kitchen.

    The odd shaped wall
    was the perfect spot
    to decoupage with
    pictures and clippings
    from old books,
    a project that took hours
    but was worth it.

    Much as we loved that place,
    droning lawn mowers
    
and smoke from neighbors’ grills
    were an excuse to escape.

    One late August Saturday
    the 6 of us
    got into your Volvo,
    headed toward those idyllic
    dusty roads,
    panorama of sunlit mountains
    around us.

    You held me with your eyes
    the whole way there,

    like you’d have a thousand babies
    so we could do this forever,
    our lives going on like this
    until the end.

    Then we reached our spot,
    in the Northeast Kingdom
    and the kids climbed out.



    The first thing we noticed
    was the blackberries.

    There were so many.


    To be there again…

    picking blackberries,
    fat baby on my hip,
    his gray green eyes
    wide puddles of wonder.

    Never mind the bills
    or fear of foreclosure,
    knowing next year,
    this land could slip
    right out of our hands.

    Standing in brambles
    careful to avoid thorns,
    I didn’t mind
    the berries
    would never make it into
    a pie or jam–
    they were that good.

    Watching the bigger kids
    
tumble through the field,
    
endless woods behind them,

    berry-stained faces.

    This
    was the reason,
    was what we held
    it all together for.

    And we always said
    being in Craftsbury
    was like standing
    on top of the world.

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    Gift Guide: The Love Issue

    Posted on January 29th, 2010 by



    Cecilia Lebovitz, artist and creative director of the magical toy shop called Craftsbury Kids, shares some of her favorite finds for little Valentines… Continue Reading...

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    Separate Paths

    Posted on January 24th, 2010 by



    I woke up dreaming
    about someone who was once
    important to me.

    We ran into each other
    on a walking path.
    He introduced his wife.
    She smiled and said
    she’d heard a lot about me.
    Was really happy to meet me.
    But her eyes would not meet mine.

    Continue Reading...

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