Category Archives: Family

Happy Birthday

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Walter is his neighbor; he lives a few doors down. There are two others in between them and even more in the general vicinity, but Walter has always been my favorite because they share the same birthday. It certainly isn’t because they knew each other (they didn’t), nor because they passed away on the same […]

Go on faith.

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“Just keep at it,” I heard him say. He’ll say things to me from time to time. Some are complete thoughts, other times they’re words that seem random but aren’t; they’re relevant to a situation or a problem, and they’re a beacon for my foggy brain. I am my father’s daughter. Stoic and reserved, I […]

One year later.

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It’s been a year. A year since our world changed forever, a year since he left. In so many ways it feels like it was just yesterday, so the fact that it’s been 365 days frequently boggles my mind. It was the 18th day of his hospital stay, and I think we all figured he’d […]

The Wrong and Right

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Leave it to me, my brother and his wife to have a deep discussion on Christmas Eve. Really, there’s no better time for it. Wine is open, conversation is flowing, and memories are being recalled. We landed upon a topic that is true for any area of our life. “Good students learn from their mistakes. […]

Here.

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I’m here. Sometimes it feels otherwise, like those nights when I’m too tired to think, to write, to move. But at this moment — listening to my laundry tumble about in the dryer, picking out the faint clackety-clack of a train’s song being carried through the night air and trying to ignore my hunger pangs […]

Mixed Nuts

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I come from a long line of nutty broads. My mom, her mom, other women in the family — most of us have what I enjoy calling the haywire gene. Sometimes the crazy kicks in. It’s amusing enough when we’re solo, but we can be downright bizarre when we run in a pack. Earlier tonight […]

The Yardstick

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My mom used to sew when I was little. I remember her sewing machine, its color, the smell, the sound. I tried a couple of times and can’t say my efforts were a complete failure, but I much preferred sewing small things by hand: scrunchies (it was, after all, the ’80s), maybe a doll dress […]

Candleside.

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You know the smell right after you’ve blown out a candle? I love that smell. For the most part, it reminds me of two main memories: 1) December birthdays, cold nights, white cake and white buttercream frosting, as well as 2) candles blown out after the last of the holiday guests have gone on their […]

Light.

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“In all our searching, the only thing we’ve found that makes the emptiness bearable is each other.” More TV quotes tonight, the above courtesy of Contact. Beyond its relation to the movie, the first thing this line made me think of is my frequent feeling of sadness and disinterest in the world — thanks to […]