Of all the things I’ve missed during the COVID quarantine—family gatherings, movies, hugs—I think I’ve missed music the most. Oh, I have quite the CD collection and so recorded music has remained part of my day, but Pandora is no substitute for live music and especially choirs. I believe the universe still owes me a… Continue reading Play it again
Category: Caregiving
In a Patch of Sunlight
The gorgeous Green Hills library, rebuilt in 2000, was a weekly destination for Mom and me. During this period of home isolation, I have had a lot (too much?) of time to ponder, and I’ve been thinking about my mom a great deal—on two fronts. First of all, my mother, a self-acclaimed germ-a-phobe, would be… Continue reading In a Patch of Sunlight
Buckets and Begonias
Today marks a year since my mom passed away. 365 days, four seasons, countless family dinners, a new baby, an emptied nest, moves and holidays. Without her. Without either parent. This past summer I was visiting my daughter in her new hometown of Bloomington, Indiana. I saw the most luscious begonias—the size of shrubs—hanging throughout… Continue reading Buckets and Begonias
Deliberate Acts of Kindness
As a child, I was the consummate worrier, and nothing disturbed me more than the thought that once Fred Rogers hung up his cardigan, he was homeless. I asked my dad if, when Mr. Rogers walked out the front door, he was on the street, and Dad explained there was actually no street and no… Continue reading Deliberate Acts of Kindness
Crazy Clocks and Long Goodbyes
The Pearsons punch me in the gut like few other television families ever have. Like so many Americans, I am captivated by the show “This is Us,” and it seems that each Tuesday I surrender a little bit more of my emotional health to it. This week the matriarch of the Pearson family, Rebecca, met… Continue reading Crazy Clocks and Long Goodbyes
Lunch Meat
As a child, I craved bologna. Fast forward 40 years and I have become it. I grew up in the south as the turbulent 60s were melding into the psychedelic 70s—the daughter of a working dad and stay-at-home-mom who made homemade butterscotch brownies that were as routine to Friday nights as those Brady and Partridge… Continue reading Lunch Meat
IN THE MIDDLE 