I woke up to an alarm clock yesterday for the first time in two weeks.  For those two weeks I hadn't needed one.  I woke up to my nine month old grandson babbling, or sometimes crying just a bit because I was a little too slow.  But always, come 7:00 a.m.,… Read full post »

I rode in an elevator yesterday with a man who had little dogs all over his pants. I wanted to ask about them, but he got off four flours before I had a chance. I'm not quite sure what I would have asked anyway since all I could think at the… Read full post »

There was a time when Valentine's Day was near the top of my list of favorite days.  I loved it all--the heart shaped sugar cookies with pink icing and sprinkles, shoe boxes decorated with red construction paper and white doilies,  candy hearts with pithy sayings on them, and, most of all,… Read full post »

Out of the driveway, left on Michigan, right on Spruce, left on Second, past the swimming pool, where I spent nearly every summer day as a kid, and I'm there.  Just twelve short blocks.  It's almost automatic--the drive anyway.  It's the going that's hard.  I shouldn't dread… Read full post »

I’ve always found it difficult to know what information about my life I should scatter out into the sea of the Internet. For some people — the ones who share that they’re hungry for a sandwich, and then that they went to get a sandwich, and then that… Read full post »

The box arrived at our house three days before Christmas. Measuring about two feet by two feet, it was wrapped in brightly colored seasonal paper, topped with a big red self-adhesive bow, and delivered to the front door by the father of my recent double-murder client-- a client who had received… Read full post »

1.  People are getting rid of bookshelves.  Treat the money you budgeted for shelving as found money.  Go to garage sales and cruise the curbs.

2.  While you're drafting that business plan, cut your projected profits in half.  People are getting rid of bookshelves.

3. … Read full post »

Thomas Wolfe wrote that you can't go home again.  I haven't actually read the book, so I didn't know how he arrived at this conclusion.  I just know that I didn't believe it.  At age 43, with two daughters, one cat, one dog, no husband, and a U-haul filled with the… Read full post »

We're sitting on opposite sides of the booth, the fat white manilla envelope--with "Yale University" printed in bright blue letters on the upper left hand corner--laying on the table between us, silly grins on our faces.

The restaurant is empty except for a table in back, which is informally reserved… Read full post »

Her beauty hidden

beneath the jutting chin

and deep creases,

she sits alone

wearing the discarded nylons

of growing grandchildren

and watches them speak

of little league and leather bracelets.

Slowly,

letting go,

she does little more

than vote for protestant republicans

and remember him,

still,

af… Read full post »

I'm going to Africa in a few weeks to see my grandson and I'm a little nervous. The last time I saw him he was only two months old and he probably won't remember that I was the one who found his favorite orange pacifer when everyone else was trying to… Read full post »

I couldn't go into Debby's house without drooling over the candy bowl.  Through the back door, one step into the kidtchen, a hard left, and I was there.  It was the first thing I saw in the pantry--almost the first thing I saw in the house. A big wooden bowl, perhaps… Read full post »

 I've been worrying a little too much about the age issue lately and am trying to get beyond it.  It's just that becoming a grandmother and turning 60 within the span of three months has sort of unglued me.  I can't seem to get my head around it, and find myself… Read full post »

Some people are lucky enough or organized enough to be able to plan the traditions that become part of their family Christmases.  They decide what they want their traditions to be and then go about creating them.  Their trees are decorated with strings of popcorn and cranberries, they go ca… Read full post »

Someone mentioned recently that they didn't like cars.  I didn't think much about it at the time, but later as I was driving home,   I couldn't help thinking that she doesn't know what she's missing.  Cars are my refuge.    

Not that I'm any sort of car fanatic.&nb… Read full post »

I've been on OS for a relatively short time and am really enjoying the wealth of talent, divergent views (sort of), humor, pathos, and funny comments that I've found.  It's clearly a community of people that respects each other (mostly), and I like being a part of it.  Warm and fuzzy… Read full post »

It was a house built for Chirstmas, with two parlors, stained glass windows,  fireplaces with marble mantles, and  ceilings so high that  you could pick  the biggest tree on the lot without ever worrying about whether there would be room for the star on top.  

Built in the 1… Read full post »

1.  Brokeback Mountain.  Yeah, I know.  It was a break out movie, critical success, and artistic wonder.  I understand and I approve.  But come on, how can a movie based on a SHORT story seem so darn long? And let's be honest here.  Did anyone really understand a word He… Read full post »

It used to be a joke in our house that if anyone ever robbed us, they better go straight for the Christmas ornaments because that's where the money was. 

It was only funny because it was probably true. With a nubby, dusty pink, 60's couch and loveseat that I won for… Read full post »

There was a time when my goal was to write a book before I turned 60. Well, actually, the original goal was 40, the same year I was going to stop smoking. But, like so many things, it got pushed back. I'm 60 now, cigarette in hand, and haven't written a… Read full post »

A few months ago I found myself flying home from Washington D.C. with a cell phone full of baby pictures of my week-old grandson, Flynn, and a brand new title of "Grandmother."  Or maybe Nana, Mimi, Baba, Grams, Gigi, or one of the other non-traditional grandmother names that seem to be pre… Read full post »

I've never been one to cuss much.  Oh sure, I've uttered the occasional cuss word under my breath, and I practiced stringing the words together as a kid in a back pew.  But saying the words out loud in the course of regular conversation has been pretty rare.  I've tended to… Read full post »

My sister and I both grew up in the shadow of two girls who we never met and never knew, but disliked with an intensity ordinarily reserved for the cheerleader who is also elected prom queen.  They were the daughters of a high school friend of our mom, and they visited… Read full post »