Inspiration
-
MEMORIES ARE MADE IN THE ROOMS OF THE MIND
“All week, trucks have been dumping appliances, stoves, A/C units, warped bookshelves, stain-soaked draperies and bed frames. Standing lamps and chairs stick out of these gargantuan piles like broken arms and legs. Newscasters sound amazed when they report, “There’s been no looting.” But the truth is, there is nothing salvageable to steal.” Read more
-
HOLD YOUR HORSES!!
“I am extremely prejudiced towards old folks. Just love ’em. Guess you could say that I have a thing for crinkly wrinkles and a shuffling step. In fact, give me a sour codger over a surly teen ANY day of the week. At least they’ve earned it.” Read more
-
A DAY FOR MOTHERS–A LIFETIME OF MOTHERING
“Many days have passed and those heads now tower over a space too small for their size. . .the nest has shifted several inches to the right and looks shabby. . .Displaced twigs and deebris have fallen to the ground underneath. Feathers and dung are splashed and stuck to the sides. There is nowhere for… Read more
-
NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT
“We will likely not even be here when our girls reach the age we are now. I have done the math. So I have to hope that the world they are aging into will one day embrace the wrinkles, the mottled skin and the dementias. For it does not now, and the gap between our… Read more
-
OLD FOLKS & ARTICHOKES
“When Granny first taught me how to eat an artichoke, I was perturbed that I had to go through all those layers of armor just to get to that mushroom cap of a heart. Frankly, at 13, i thought the best part was the butter dipping.” Read more
-
ALZHEIMER’S & THE GIFT OF FORGETTING
“Only ONCE did Granny say to me during her Alzheimer’s years, “I think I am losing my memory.” It was towards the end, in the middle of that period when she was wearing a diaper and I was re-instructing her on how to use a spoon. She didn’t even know my name and my first… Read more
-
BEEN THERE, DONE THAT
“There is not one, single moment of one, single day that I would ever want to live over. not even the first kiss my husband gave me–that Malibu night, as waves crashed against the sand and my heart felt like a thousand stars imploding–could lure me back.” Read more
-
GRANNY’S ONE-SENTENCE MARRIAGE ADVICE
“Though I didn’t know it then, I was walking into wedded bliss with a slew of needs I didn’t even know I had! It started with the toilet seat. I needed it to be down when I stumbled into the bathroom in the dead of night and had to go. I did not expect to… Read more
-
MEANING, MESSAGES AND MERMAIDS
My 13 year-old still likes me to tell her stories at night. Trust me, after the first few years of doing this I ran out of ideas–and yet–somehow they still come. Often they involve animals or mermaids (since I AM one), but ALWAYS they have a message. This is NOT intentional on my part. … Read more
AGEFULLY AGING 