An elderly man stood inside the door of the library. He took a wobbly step toward me, nodded, smiled, and said something in a raspy voice I couldn’t hear. He’d been tall once, but was stooped, rounded, and frail with wispy white hair and loose khaki pants bunched at the waist. His hands were large, […]
My phone buzzes. The screen reads “restricted number.” Probably an advertiser, but it could be my mother-in-law’s Hospicare nurse, so I pick up. “Hi Elaine, it’s Ray.” Ah, the Hospicare nurse. “Virginia has an infection on her leg and skin break-down. It’s inflamed and angry. I’d like to order an antibiotic. What do you think?” […]
It’s a stretch to call us friends. Meniere is an alien living in me, a shadow, a twin joined at the inner ear. She showed up in the 1990s with a pop in my right ear and a subtle muting of sound. A response to altitude? A wax build up? A bad attitude? No one […]
“For one human being to love another; that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke June 3, 2018 marks a decade since my husband died. It’s been 52 years since we met […]
In Honor of Our 50th Anniversary May 18, 1968 – 2018 By the time I was twenty, I was used to my mother living in a different country every year, knew what classes to take at Cornell, and was ready to apply to Berkley for graduate school. I also knew I would live in a […]
“Do you ask her how she is?” my therapist asked. “Not unless she acts out,” I said. “I try to ignore her depression.” “How old is she?” We’ve talked about this many times, but she asks anyway. “She’s about 14.” Shame rises from my belly and floods my face. Am I talking about this again? […]
A few nights after arriving in Arizona to visit Dotty and her family, I had a dream: I walk up a steep hill with Dotty. I’m looking for a safe place to release a large owl. Dotty opens battered wooden barn doors and enters the dark. “What’s it like in there,” I call through the […]