I know this to be my truth: there are moments that take place between a man and a woman that you should never speak of, and they could fill a book, and my mother spoke of them, and I wish she had not. Yet I believed her. Or rather, I believed the depth of her […]
French Fashion Flair – Shoe Extra!
Now come on. Was I really going to hop, skip, and saunter from accessories straight into Lesson Five, without a spin through the footwear department? Or a teeny-tiny (remember, size 36) homage to Christian Louboutin? But must I resort to begging him to adopt me – again? Couldn’t he possibly set me up in a […]
No Knowledge
It was an odd night of even odder dreams; an odd night because I slept eight hours (exceptional), and odd dreams as I found myself sitting behind a massive wooden desk, part of a management directive to motivate my staff with plastic boy toys. Now, now – not those toys. Strange morphing, scoping, bending wheeled […]
Eggs. Baskets. Now what?
Here’s your task. You’re in a big room. It’s filled with the usual – chairs, tables, lamps, books. Your mission? Get from one side to the other and back again, carrying a dozen eggs, in or out of their carton. You have your choice of two baskets, along with bubble wrap and a few other […]
Top 10 Reasons My Teens ROCK!
My teens? The best on the planet, naturally. One is a bit of a world wanderer – give him a backpack and a cheap ticket to Europe, and he’s a happy camper. A little factory work, a little office work, a few music festivals… and plenty of adventure, some of which he tells me about, […]
Playing by the Rules
I find myself sitting in traffic. It’s a dangerous intersection of off-ramps and commercial roadways, with a confusing tangle of turns and lights. But it’s past rush hour and before lunch. Not too bad, I think. I’ll make it through in five or six minutes. Most of the drivers are waiting patiently. Inching forward as […]
Particle Physics
We’ve been staying up until all hours, often working side by side. On the couch. Or he’s on the couch and I’m in an adjoining room plopped in a chair, plugging away on my laptop. He watches me scowl in exasperation, shuffle through stacks of pages, then tap furiously on my keyboard for a long […]
Butting Heads
I miss stormy. Okay. I’ll rephrase. I miss occasionally stormy. It isn’t what I experienced in marriage, and at the time, I thought that was a plus. Of course, things were rocky at the end, and that’s to be expected. But the relationship itself seemed to run smoothly. Quietly. We rarely fought. If anything, we […]
Semantic Issues
Pens, pencils, textbooks. The computer. Dirty dishes. It’s all heaped on the edge of the couch and the small ottoman next to his long limbs. He’s twisted up in an old comforter, and out cold. I touch his arm and he opens his eyes. “I don’t need to print this morning,” he murmurs, and turns […]
Dead Uncle
I do a double-take. He looks so familiar, but I can’t place him. Fifty-something. Wild curly hair. Animated and grinning. Given that I’m already miffed – and rushed – I let it go, continuing to my car. “Miserable morning,” I mutter to myself, adjusting the heating pad beneath the backs of my legs. Turning over […]