Category Military
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, […]
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 […]
Conversations
Two things of note happened this weekend: I heard from two members of my family. And while that’s not unusual for most, for me, well, nothing’s ever simple. My cousin Bette lives about a third of the way across the country. We used to see each other frequently as kids. Didn’t even take forty-five minutes […]
Out of Darkness, Light
Last week was horrible. Just horrible. My cousins called me. My 95-year-old aunt died of COVID-19. She’d been frail, especially after breaking her arm last summer. After they move her into a rehabilitation home, then nursing home, my cousins knew their mother wasn’t coming out. Auntie had trouble remembering where she was or who she […]
Confessions of A Middle-Age Woman 