To an Athlete Dying Young I remember that day so vividly,  it’s hard to believe it was over 60 years ago. In the fall of 1963 I was in my senior year at NYU Heights.  (See Ghostwriting in the Family, The Fortune Cookie Candidate  and Theatre Dreams) I was a member of the college theatre group,  and… Read More

Spinning for Hanukkah Gelt You probably don’t have to be Jewish to know about the Hanukkah game called Dreidel. It’s a betting game where each player antes up and then, depending on the spin of the dreidel  –  the four-sided spinning top that serves as the dice –  he either takes nothing from the pot… Read More

The Year of Banana Bread Dear Family and Friends, As this year draws to a close I’m happy to say despite the pandemic and the lock-downs we were really busy with lots to tell you in my annual holiday letter! Although our travels were a bit limited this year,  we did take many trips back… Read More

The Corpse in the Office  I grew up in the Bronx on a tree-lined street that bordered the beautifully designed and landscaped housing complex called Parkchester.  (See The Puppy in the Waiting Room,  Magnolia, The Story of a Garden, and Parkchester, Celebrate Me Home) There were seven or eight stores on our street,  a bar called… Read More

GP My father was a GP with an office on the first floor of our house,  and we lived “over the store”    (See The Puppy in the Waiting Room,  Saying Farewell to a Special Guy, and Turkey and Trimmings with Flu Shot) My dad did it all – delivered babies,  took out splinters and appendixes,  and… Read More

My Zuzu I’ve written about my beautiful kid sister Laurie – my Zuzu – who died in 2015 at age 61 after a long and painful battle with MS.   (See Take Care of Your Sister,  Look for the Helpers –  for Laurie) Laurie was gifted,  and at the time of her illness an NIH… Read More

The Chain Letter and the Fender Bender The first story I wrote for Retro was about some rather costly auto body damage I caused when I was driving my husband’s beloved T-bird.   Needless to say he wasn’t happy about that.   (See Fender Bender) Years before we had another fender bender and although that time… Read More

My Blessings  My father’s birthday was November 26 and we always celebrated it on Thanksgiving.   Every year my mother hosted with our extended family around the table,  and after the turkey and the fixings there was always a birthday cake,  and toasts to my dad.   He was an especially wonderful soul,  and it’s… Read More

Flowers on the Windshield  After more than a year together I knew our marriage wasn’t working.   As we had no kids,  no communal property to speak of it,  and little contention between us,  it was a relatively simple divorce.  The grounds Alan and I agreed on were irreconcilable differences – which I guess is… Read More

Mr Skeleton  Every Halloween when my son was young he and the other kids in our 17 story apartment building would start on the top floor and work their way down ringing doorbells. And for the kids who rang our bell,  we’d set up a spooky tableau with a floppy plastic skeleton we kept for… Read More