I’m a wee bit naive. I always have been. When I was in grad school I lived in a duplex apartment with another grad student. Frank lived next door to us. He was 35ish. He had a really huge dog named Rocky. He drove a big SUV and had a boat. I used to talk to Frank every now and then. I took note of … Continue reading “Fiberglass” Sales
I am a horder. There. I’ve said it. Admitting it is the first step to healing, right? No, I’m not one of those people who would be on the TV show. But, I do tend to keep stuff for quite a while. Really I like to think of myself as a collector. I still have the gym bag I made in home economics in 8th … Continue reading A Horder of Stuff
I was headed to downtown Atlanta for a meet with a friend I hadn’t seen in 25 years. We’d met at church when I was in grad school at the University of Oklahoma. I was pretty excited to see my friend again; we’d reconnected through Facebook a couple of years ago. I work south of the airport so I hopped on 19-41 at 4 pm … Continue reading Juke Joint Journey
‘What happens at the lake stays at the lake.’ It was on a sign on the back porch. We decided we would abide by that rule. Well, I had too much fun. I have to tell. But I’ll tell on myself, keeping the others safe from ridicule! Five besties from high school planned to meet at one friend’s lake house…decades after graduation. Some of us had … Continue reading The Lakehouse
I am an award-winning drama queen. OK, so I haven’t won an Oscar, Emmy, or Tony. I’m not sure what the name of the award was that I did win. So, let’s just call it a Hessie (in honor of my high school drama teacher). As a senior in high school I won “Best Actress in the District.” The district included six high schools. It’s my … Continue reading Drama Queen
One of my little granddaughter’s favorite places to go is Party City. She does love a party, and enjoys looking at all the colorful stuff for sale. It’s become one of “our” places. We get a buggy and walk the aisles slowly. I let her put anything she wants in the basket. “You can put it in the cart; we’ll decide about it later,” I tell her. … Continue reading Our children
I have a number of recurring dreams. Some of them are very common. One of them is any number of variations of where I just stop going to history or math or physics without officially withdrawing….I get an F for the course and I scramble around frantically to see if I can fix it. Twenty plus years after I graduated with a Ph.D. I still dream I haven’t finished my … Continue reading Bearded Lady
When I was ten my father graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. We all went to the civic center for his commencement ceremony. His parents, my grandparents, were there too. They bought him a class ring with a beautiful blue stone representing his December birthday. That day changed our lives. Soon after we moved into a “new” home and my father began to remodel the 1926 house located in a more middle class … Continue reading Blue Ring
From the time I was born until I was ten years old my family lived next door to Mr. and Mrs. Allison. We lived in a blue-collar, working class neighborhood where the men worked, the women stayed home, and the older folks mentored the young couples who were creating and raising the baby boom generation. Mr. and Mrs. Allison were one of the older couples. I … Continue reading Orange Slices
It’s no secret that I had cosmetic surgery over the Christmas holidays. I look significantly younger, so it’s hard to hide the change….and who wants to anyway? I didn’t tell my son and his family prior to the surgery. I had scheduled it seven months earlier and didn’t want them to worry about the surgery or my recovery. So when he and my four-year-old granddaughter … Continue reading Face Lift
Tower of Twins 