Suprise Me

How could I respond “I love you”? You always ended every conversation “I love you…”, waiting for me to respond in kind. I always heard your criticism in my head: “stand up straight”, “don’t wear your hair behind your ears”, “you missed that note” (screamed from another room as I practiced my singing while taking… Read More

Ah, comedy. The universal language of amusement, the oil that keeps the gears of social interaction turning smoothly (except when it throws monkey wrenches into those gears, but that’s part of the fun, right?). Laughter has been echoing through caves and amphitheaters since well before punchlines were even a twinkle in some early human’s eyes.… Read More

You always see stories and comic strips about teenage boys eating refrigerators. I was a skinny teenage girl, and this is what I ate on any given day: 7 a.m. – Raisin Bran 10 a.m. – Frozen/thawed/reheated bean burrito from the snack shop at school 12 p.m. – Brown bag lunch by Mom: Two (2!)… Read More

As my mother descended into dementia, her letters stopped, and we kept in touch through phone calls, increasingly with my father alone.  By the time my mother died, he had become my confidante and mutual support system. Read More

Meals were a challenge when I was a resident on hospital rotations.  There were no official breaks, no lunch, dinner, or breakfast hours, just work that had to be done and rounds to attend.  Sure, there were cafeterias with overcooked steam trays of food, but they weren’t open 24/7, and weren’t free.  Finding a moment… Read More

I still have a pang in my gut crossing any border, even when it should be benign.  Anything could happen in that liminal area. Read More

The musical Hair opened on Broadway in April 1968, and I saw it some time that spring with my friend Amy, who lived in Manhattan. Amy had been my roommate the previous summer at a program for high school students at Syracuse University. It was Amy who first introduced me to marijuana, so it was… Read More

From about 1539 BC to around 1075 BC, the Valley of the Kings, in ancient Thebes, was the burial site for the rulers and some nobility of ancient Egypt. Though known about, the exact whereabouts had been lost through the ages, until archaeological excavations led by Europeans during the time of Napoleon began in the… Read More

Can you forgive a friend? My answer is a resounding “yes.” In fact, it goes beyond something you can do to something you must do. Read More

I have already written about losing my parked BMW in 2003 (Finding the Car). Therefore, I will go in a different direction today. During the summer of 1971, I worked as a counselor at the Jewish Community Center Day Camp, situated next to my temple in Oak Park, MI, not too far from my home.… Read More