Category Friendship

The Rite (or Wrong) of Spring

You can practically smell the perfume… Ah, spring! The flowers are blooming, the birds are singing and one’s heart turns to romance. Or does it? I sit here alone on a Thursday night when I should’ve been out on a date. Last week I had a really great phone conversation with someone I met on […]

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Angela had gorgeous thick blonde hair. Actually, it seemed to consist of many shades of blonde. Sunlight played with its gentle waves, creating a luminous swath that trailed past her shoulders. Once, back in high school, she got a permanent – remember those? – and her head resembled a sheep’s fleece. When we were kids, […]

It Had To Happen…

It’s been a little more than a week on my dating app, and so far…nothing. I wonder what’s up with the filters. I specifically said I’d like to meet someone in a 50 mile radius around my town. It’s been more like 500 miles nowhere near my town. I wanted someone closer to my age. […]

Breadcrumbing

By now, everyone’s heard the term, “breadcrumbing.” It means someone who leads you on, texts you with vague plans but never manages to solidify them, drops out of touch for long periods of time only to show back up when they suspect you’re losing interest. It’s a common thing, made even more so with the […]

Undying Love

Angela and I sat together in her hospital room, she in the bed and me perched on a chair. She’d just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The surgeon gave her one and a half years to live. A tube, protruding from her nose, drained the contents of her stomach. Her eyes stared straight ahead, shock […]

Dating: Pond or Sewer?

Dating is a sewer of emotions. One minute, you’re flustered and stomach-butterflied, the other, you’re bewildered and disgusted. Eventually, you’re over it and move on. Your emotions go through the treatment plant, and if you’re lucky, they come out as clear as a shiny-sparkling pond, ready to try them out on the next person. Recently, […]

Success

Because I’ll take any excuse to whip up some pancakes and sausages, I invited two of my friends over for brunch. I know, that’s pretty said, but then again, you can’t beat pumpkin pancakes with link breakfast sausage on a chilly October morning. That, and I hadn’t seen Chelsea and Connie in ages. Well before […]

The Foreigner

We sat around the dining room table, chewing on the remains of scones and a fruit platter. The Zoom version of our writers group ended and a discussion of its topic lingered a short while after. But of course, as conversations goes, it turned to the inevitable, at least in this group. Husbands. Isn’t it […]

The Aliens Among Us

At the edge of the Shawangunk Mountains, in a northern corner of Orange County, NY, is a quaint village known as Pine Bush, NY. It’s one of those places where you’ll find an active main street, friendly neighborhoods, horse farms, a winery or two and a very intriguing claim. Bet you didn’t know that Pine […]

The Simple Stuff

So much deprivation over the last year has left me feeling disconnected. The lack of a social life. The inability to go anywhere or do anything. Even eating in a restaurant seemed hazardous. Or hugging someone. After attending a crowded art show opening in May, I kind of gathered the courage to venture out once […]