For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice. (T. S. Eliot) It was a beautiful Christmas Eve day in the burbs of Atlanta. People were out shopping at our outdoor mall in short-sleeved tee-shirts. It was a bit windy and my hair blew every which way, but the cool air felt wonderful on my face and arms. … Continue reading What will the New Year bring?
School has started back and I’m beginning to settle into a more normal schedule for my new retirement. I take a shower and wash my hair on Thursday nights; lunch with Breezy comes every Friday. Breezy is particular about how her Gigi looks. She’s already mad at me for letting my gray begin to show, so I make sure I wear my hair down … Continue reading Lunching with Miss Breezy
I sit on the couch listening to the soft snore of my husband as he sleeps beside me. We have returned this morning from one of “those” procedures where the patient needs a driver. Those procedures come more often as we get older. My spouse and I are 62 and 59, and I am just beginning to realize that we are growing old together. Each … Continue reading On Growing Old Together-
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 did I first start calling you Mother? I can’t remember. I think it was when I was in college. All the other kids still call you mom. Mother just seems right to me. I simply wanted to take some time on this Mother’s Day to tell you what you mean to me. First of all, I thank you for teaching me to read. Reading truly is … Continue reading Dear Mother
If you’ve known me for more than 20 minutes you know that I’m a shoe person. I can’t tell you how many pairs of shoes I own; although it’s a common question I am asked. I like high heels, tennies, ballet flats, and flip flops. I like shoe booties and boots. Just bought my first pair of thigh high boots. I like sandals and open-toed … Continue reading Red Shoes
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
I grew up during the Cold War. Some of you might remember the Civil Defense yellow and black signs that identified the location of nuclear fallout shelters. We had emergency drills much like fire and severe weather drills. If you think about, it was really a weird time. But it didn’t seem strange to us back then; it was just life in the 60’s. We had … Continue reading Cold War
We all have baggage that we carry around. But unlike at the airport, we can’t just check it. We can stuff it under the seat in front of us or put it in the overhead bin, but it’s still ours. We own it. Sometimes, if we aren’t careful, our baggage becomes the ‘elephant in the room.’ If you aren’t familiar with that idiom it means “some fact of … Continue reading Carry-on baggage
Tower of Twins 