Category Middle Age
Profiling
Perfect for you, that is… One recent Sunday night, I went for it. Wrote up my profile, picked out about a half-dozen great shots of myself, filled out the questionnaire and shelled out far too much money for the paywall version of the dating site. I sat back and blew a great breeze from my […]
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 […]
Courage In Profiles
Think for a minute. If a stranger walked up to on the street and said, “Hey, you! Describe yourself!” what would you say? Adjectives and nouns swirl in galactic formation, begging to partner with verbs that’ll promise some hot action. But are they talking about me? Or someone I’d like to be? Recently, I had […]
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, […]
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, […]
Wrestling With Words and Other Writing Conundrums
It all seemed so wonderful, this writers conference. None of us had been out amongst fellow writers and friends for what seemed like forever. Our last conference was cancelled (I’m sure I don’t have to tell you why). Omicron wasn’t even anything beyond a letter in the Greek alphabet. We were all vaxxed, masked and […]
Change
I took the above picture this morning as I went on my morning walk. Only a few weeks ago, the mountains were decorated in orange, red and rust hues. Now, they’re just brown and bare. The lake still has its usual population of waterfowl, including geese, ducks and swans (they always class up any body […]
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 […]
Confessions of A Middle-Age Woman 