When I close my eyes and think about Thanksgiving I smell onions. Every year my mom would start cooking the turkey very early in the morning, and I would smell the sauteed onions for the beginnings of the cornbread stuffing, as I lazy-eyed rose from my bed. This tradition continued even after I left home,…
HOME
When I was a child and we would return home from vacation, I would shut my eyes really tight and take a deep breath as we rounded the corner on our street, to reveal our house. Every time we left and came back I had this fear of our house burning down while we were…
Life in Words
I often say “I could write a book about all the {insert randomly connected experiences here} over the years.” The funny thing is, in a way, I have written a book on this blog. It has taken many years to document a life which is pretty darn good, considering the ups and downs. A full…
On Forgiveness
I’ve held a few grudges in my life. Like the time a girl in my third grade class made a comment about how chubby I was, while playing kickball during P.E. one day. I knew her until we graduated from high school and I never wanted to be around her or talk to her after…
Little Girl at the Beach
I recall loving the ocean when I was little. Except for the salty taste on my lips after I went swimming. And all the sand in our car. Maybe I did not like it as much as I thought I did. I mean, I liked it, but I didn’t really appreciate it. My parents enjoyed going…
Chocolate Covered Cherries
The left side of the huge room was lined with vinyl rocking chairs circa 1950 0r 1960-ish. By the corner window, that faced the garden, was a dusty bookshelf and a table full of framed family photographs (also very dusty). On the back wall hung a now antique, aqua-colored rotary phone with the long, curly cord….
Ten Years A Blogger
Today is my ten-year blog-iversary. Yes, that’s right, TEN years. Hard to believe! I wish I had screen shots of all the old designs. I think I am on the sixth one. At least I have old business cards to document a few of them. Since I started writing here, so many words have come…
Fixer Upper
I walked the dog through my parents’ neighborhood yesterday, trying to remember which families lived where. I passed by my childhood friend Corrie’s house, and thought about the fun we used to have there and how we made prank calls once to ask people if their refrigerator was running and if so, they better go catch…
Puzzling
When my brother Larry and I still lived in the same house, back in the late 80’s, early 90’s, we used to sit in the “game room” at my parents’ house with the t.v. on and build jigsaw puzzles together. It probably wasn’t your most usual way to bond but we had a lot of good conversations…
Scars of the Past
His arm has two scars. I sort of know the story of how they came to be but I did not know him then. He fell. He fell years before I did. He has those scars as well as many others that you cannot actually see. Most of mine stay hidden as well. They are tucked…