Category Children

Tacking On Another Year

Another year has flown the coop, and I feel like a bird with clipped wings. Although I feel great and still can pass for looking pretty good, I’m not sure about the road ahead. This is the time when most people my age start planning their retirement. I’m in the unenviable position of never being […]

An Expensive Proposition

“It would be great if you could come out here and visit,” said my son, who’s in the navy. “And even better if you can make it before I’m deployed.” “When’s that,” I asked. “Probably January. The end of,” he said. “Although I can’t be sure. They don’t tell me anything.” “I have some vacation […]

Trading Up

I had dinner with a friend of mine the other night. As we contemplated whether to order appetizers or save room for dessert, her phone rang. Her child, sounding teary-eyed, pattered out her words with syncopated short breaths. Something dreadful happened, but not life-threatening. She wanted sympathy, and quite possibly assurance she’d be okay. Almost […]

The Jitters, Or, The Nightmares Cometh

It happens every now and again. Sometimes I have a bad day at work. Or a mistake I made that I can’t let go. Something’s looming on the horizon and I obsess about it. Or my brain simply won’t shut up, no matter what I do or try not to dwell upon. It’s a case […]

It’s Complicated

Son came to us when he was eight years old. We adopted him from foster care. A feral youth, he knew nothing of personal hygiene, was illiterate, spoke inarticulately, had rotten teeth and suffered from severe ADHD. He’d been horribly neglected. The school he’d been attending wrote him off and considered him unteachable. Despite this, […]

Driving Away

Photo by Enric Cruz Lu00f3pez on Pexels.com It’d been a fantasy of my son’s to own a vintage Mustang. I had one, and to be quite honest, it was terrible. A real piece of junk. Sure, it looked fabulous. A silver convertible, black leather interior, 289 V8 engine. Its signature roar announced to the world […]

ARGH!

Nora Ephram famously once said, “Everything is copy.” Bearing that in mind, I write this blog using experiences and incidences that occur in my daily life. After all, isn’t that what blogs are for? Today is one of those days where my unfiltered self must burst through, if for no other reason I really need […]

Journeys

Recently, I went to visit my son, currently serving in the Navy. He just returned from his first deployment, having entered the Navy right out of high school. And here’s the thing: early on, this kid was written off as stupid. Just because he had a different way of seeing the world, he was considered […]

The Mother of All Days

Earlier in the week, I received a rather succinct email from my son: “Can you please send me a care package of snacks?” No, “How are you” or “I miss you” or any of that such nonsense. My son reached out to me, if for no other reason he’d know I’d help him. I read […]

Anticipation

I go for my COVID-19 second shot on Wednesday. Can’t wait. My boss and I already arranged to take the day off afterwards (she goes on Tuesday) so we can recuperate. Since it’s a common side effect to feel lousy within 24 hours of the second dose, we figured we’d probably need time under a […]