1950 Jim and I sat in the backseat, our faces out opposite windows. The wind dried our sweat into salty white stains. Daddy was sick, so our parents had pulled a tiny Airstream to Arizona for a virus-free winter. We packed
Read more →Family and Friends
My son Anthony sent a text last week. “Leaving San Francisco now.” Their move to rural New York had been planned for many months, so that was no surprise. I wanted to write back: “Watch out for snow
Read more →Soon after our son David was born in 1970, my husband’s mom gave me a small battered box. Inside, wrapped in crumpled tissue paper, I found a yellowed christening dress with the lace still in good shape. “You’ll need
Read more →“Give my son a kiss from me,” my mother-in-law Virginia whispers. “OK, I will,” I say as I give her hand a squeeze. She wants to kiss the child who was the center of her world. There’s no use
Read more →When the overnight aide arrived at 10 pm, Virginia wasn’t asleep in her bed. She wasn’t in her apartment or down the hall in the sitting area or anywhere obvious. After a frantic search, the aide found
Read more →…there comes a time when, long after loss has been well-lived…, a small melody of love always returns.” Dreamwork with Toko-Pa For the seventh year, I gathered candles and evergreens for a Solstice Ritual. My son, daughter-in-law,
Read more →Someday soon we all will be together If the fates allow Until then, we’ll muddle through somehow.* *Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” (lyrics by Hugh Martin & Ralph Blane, 1944) I recommend the article Have Yourself a
Read more →“Instead of getting angry, nurture a deep caring and respect for troublemakers because by creating such trying circumstances they provide us with invaluable opportunities to practice tolerance and patience.” ― Dalai Lama “She’s amazing,” the nurse practitioner said
Read more →I miss my big brother’s Sunday calls. I want to tell him Bob Dylan won the Noble Prize in Literature. My brother Jim brought Dylan records home from college when I was 14. I want to tell him Clinton
Read more →Last week, I came home from town to find Pat sitting on my back porch. I expected her, but not so early. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t home when she arrived. We don’t need formalities. We
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