Family
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OUR CHILD
Last Sunday, CBS ran a piece on the Sackler family and their profiteering from opioid production and deceitful marketing. Their company, Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin plead guilty to three federal criminal charges for their role in creating our nation’s opioid crisis which has killed half a million people in the last 20 years. As their… Read more
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PRESERVE YOUR MEMORIES
More than 40 years ago, Simon & Garfunkel recorded a song on their album, “Bookends.” It was a minute and a half piece about a photograph that said, “Preserve your memories. They’re all that’s left you.” How were they so wise at only 27? I am a hoarder of memories. For 50 some… Read more
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in
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LOVE STORY
Forget Ali McGraw and Ryan O’Neal. Randall and Joan have a love story far more poignant. They have been married exactly as long as I have been alive: 63 years. When Joan’s mom first laid eyes on Randall back in 1952 at church, she whispered in her daughter’s ear, “That is the boy you are… Read more
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HERE’S TO THE ‘OLD’ NEW YEAR
New Year’s Eve finds me sitting alone in an old house dress with rolled up socks and the dog curled at my left hip. As I reflect on the ‘old’ year passing in my final blog for 2011, firecrackers pop in the distance. My teenagers are off with friends and my husband is long in… Read more
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TIME CHANGES EVERYTHING
Everywhere you go nowadays you see ‘kids’ taking care of their elderly parents. That wasn’t the case when I wrote, “Kissing Tomatoes,” 10 years ago. At the time, publishers said, “Love the writing but no one will buy it. Who cares about Alzheimer’s?” Well, time changes everything. Just today, the woman in front of me… Read more
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by
in
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GET A LIFE!!!
When my oldest first said these three words to me I really was speechless. Then I laughed. After I wiped the incredulous look off my face I just stared into her then 16 year-old eyes and said: “I have one but unfortunately for you, you’re a BIG part of it.” Now if you have teenagers… Read more
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SHHH!! DON’T TELL!!
While rinsing the chlorine off this morning in the YMCA shower, a gaggle of giggling little girls squeezed altogether in the open stall next to me. Although several others were open, they chose to rinse off together. Like spies on a secret mission, they peeked out from behind their vinyl curtain as if to be… Read more
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WALK LIKE A MAN!
My husband ruptured a disc in his back several weeks ago. Despite the many pain medications his doctor has proffered, he is still in agony and barely able to navigate from bedroom to kitchen. So, on the eve of our 31st anniversary, I drove to purchase him a cane. As I parked at Walgreens,… Read more
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by
in
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STARLIGHT, STAR BRIGHT
“Tonight the Perseid meteor shower will be in full view and I will watch all those falling stars fall. It will remind me that dying is pretty from a distance. But mostly it will remind me of the nights Granny and I used to look up at those same stars and say, “Starlight. Star bright.… Read more
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by
in
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JUST DRIVE
I just handed my oldest the keys to the car and sent her out to the market. For a brief moment, she just stood there and looked at me as if uncertain what I meant. “Here’s the key,” I repeated. “Just drive.” I figure she’s had enough of me sitting in the passenger seat… Read more
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by
in
AGEFULLY AGING 