Autumn is a time of change, downshifting from the warm days of summer to cooler nights and shorter days. We’re never too old for change. Trying something new challenges us. It keeps us vital. The pandemic put many people at a crossroads, a pause that can also be a positive time to make change. Folks I know are finding themselves in the post-covid ...
“It’s time for an adventure,” he said. And I, facing an empty nest and the instant revision of my job description as a mother, answered… “Hell yeah.” My adventuresome self had been hibernating during the rearing of four cubs. There were years of policing and keeping them safe; reflexively spouting “be careful” or “watch out” and the mother ...
Val Haller was always the cool kid on the block. Literally. With four young boys and a backyard ice rink, Val’s house was where kids and adults congregated, like a giant tailgate party. Twenty years later, Val’s house is still the place to be, but for altogether different reasons. I’ll get to that in a moment. Our family lived down the street and ...
Long ago, I determined that if my house ever caught fire, the one thing I would grab would be my photo albums. Everything else, I reasoned, was replaceable. But life’s memories? Impossible. Tragic. Re-organizing the basement this summer, I opened a Tupperware container of mementos and immediately smelled danger. Not smoke or fire, thank goodness, ...
I look in the hand-held mirror and am dismayed to observe that one brow is now permanently raised, like a female version of Star Trek’s Spock. OK, maybe not quite that pronounced, but definitely higher. Noticeably higher. A line of tiny stitches sits just above the eyebrow and my eyelid is drawn up too, like a roman shade. I look half wide-eyed, my face ...