Suprise Me

I already knew how to read when I got to kindergarten. I could write my first name in capital letters. I also knew colors and numbers and days of the week. This was partly because my sisters thought it was fun to teach me, and partly because, as the third child in the family, I… Read More

Attacking the blank page in the early-morning hours can give us more of a chance of winning the battle of writing. Read More

Camping was fun when I was a kid. Fire was exciting and extinguished too soon. Read More

I have a very bad habit of singing old commercial jingles over and over again. Especially when I’m using some similar product. Or just walking down the street. Sometimes when I brush my teeth I’ll hum, “You’ll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent.” Even though I’m using Crest. Afterwards,… Read More

You never know when you will need a computer repair genius. Read More

My worst dreams have become a reality as we struggle through these endless days of #stayathome. Read More

The epitome of grace, class, and intelligence, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis was, from the time I was very young, my idol. She married John F. Kennedy when I was a baby and she set about having babies too. She was married to JFK a mere 10 years and was pregnant five times, resulting in only… Read More

Mr October Super Bowl,  World Series,  or Final Four stories   – they’re all the same to us sports widows. A few years ago my friends Pat and David and I were planning a reunion for our former teaching colleagues at Jane Addams,  the small inner-city high school where we first met in the 1980s.… Read More

I had been desperately awaiting this day for more than two months, but the insurrection two weeks earlier had me terrified. Read More

Thank heavens I was born into a family that encouraged reading. I did the flashlight under the covers thing from early on. In the summers mom would take us to the public library every week or two and each time we checked out the maximum number of books allowable, 19 as I recall. It was… Read More