Health + Family + Relationship + Work. Essential to a good life, don’t you think? Of course, you may wish to rearrange the sequence to reflect your circumstances or values. Some of you may add in “faith” or spiritual inclination. As for myself, I would include a roof overhead and food on the table, without […]
Dental Dam(n) and Cool Whip
Your eyelids are swollen shut and you’re trying to pry them open and feeling for your glasses which, oddly, aren’t in the place where you put them every damn night but somehow they’ve gone AWOL when you’re running late and you can’t see anyway because (a) you can’t find your glasses and (b) your eyelids […]
Fiction
Here are the moments as I live them: Sheets of freezing rain are battering the windows. The chill is bone numbing and I cannot find its source. The thermostat is mysteriously broken again and I flick it, to no avail. As for the noises I was hearing, for now, they’ve stilled. It’s not yet daybreak, […]
Resolve
Knowing what you want is one thing. Knowing what you need? Quite another. You can’t always get what you want, right? Hey – the Rolling Stones told us so! But New Year’s Eve was all about my son getting what he wanted, and me – not getting what I needed. Yep, I did it to […]
01-01-11
Come on. It’s a cool number, isn’t it? 01-01-11? I love when dates dive into delicious and satisfying strings, when digits fall into obsequious and obedient order, when they arrange themselves into a poetic pattern that pleases me. Who doesn’t notice the tidy affectation of 1-1-11? Or the distinct delight that comes at certain hours […]
Open to the Future
It’s been quite a year. On every dimension that I value or that keeps this household afloat – emotionally, physically, financially – I will say it again: it’s been quite a year. Last year I dared to write a letter to the new decade, imploring the universe to grant a bit more light. This year […]
Kelsey and Camille (Why does their divorce offend me?)
Yes, I watch Bravo. No, I haven’t joined a 12-step program if there is one. Yes, I’ve admitted my problem, but I’m not planning on rectifying it anytime soon. And I confess: I am a viewer of some of the Housewives, including a backward glance at the perpetually petulant crew from Beverly Hills. Every time […]
Ordinary Days
Aren’t we a culture that professes to value individuals? A society that goes wild over the stand-out: exceptional performance, particular charm, something – anything – distinctive? And don’t we oo and ah over beauty? And yet. The distinctions we seek – in professions and in personal style – are increasingly conventional. As for beauty, who […]
People Pleasing, Big Bellies, Weird Facts
What better time of year for a story of a ho ho ho big belly? No – I’m not referring to Santa Claus, Saint Nick, or any other variation of bearded man in a red suit. However, while researching sneezing the other day, I ran into the following juicy tidbit. Thank you Guinness Book of […]
Sneezing and Wheezing
For thirty minutes yesterday I was possessed by a power greater than myself. A whopper of a sneezing fit. Let me preface this little tale by pointing out that I am not prone to fits of any sort, except for the occasional outbreak of exuberant rhyming, and speaking in accents – both generally the result […]