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Using My Talents by
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(358 Stories)

Prompted By Lemons to Lemonade

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So-so actress; better stage manager. Didn’t have the drive or thick enough skin to go to New York and try for Broadway; married at 21. Took a crummy job doing data entry. Sang while I key-punched. While eavesdropping on the salesman in the office next door I had an epiphany – I could do this! Took…
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Mel by
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(358 Stories)

Prompted By Parking

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I have already written about losing my parked BMW in 2003 (Finding the Car). Therefore, I will go in a different direction today. During the summer of 1971, I worked as a counselor at the Jewish Community Center Day Camp, situated next to my temple in Oak Park, MI, not too far from my home.…
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With a Baby on the Way by
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(358 Stories)

Prompted By Children's Books

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Before my children were born, they each received the classic Boston tale, “Make Way For Ducklings” as a gift. The book is so popular that in May, there is a Ducking Parade, (children dress up as ducklings) and retrace part of the duckling’s route through Beacon Hill to the safety of the Public Garden. Years…
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Dinner With a Working Dad by
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(358 Stories)

Prompted By Mealtime

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My dad co-owned a car dealership during the early years of my life. He worked six days and two nights a week, so wasn’t home to eat dinner with the family a few nights a week. My mother had a housekeeper who cooked meals in those early years. Those women cycled through, staying a few…
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Paying Respect by
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(358 Stories)

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We didn’t know Victor 20 years ago. His wife is in a book group with several of our friends. They live in Newton and Martha’s Vineyard and now we, too, are good friends. Victor is Dan’s frequent golf partner and we go to dinner with the couple. One evening, he revealed why he retired early.…
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Drive by
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(358 Stories)

Prompted By Going to Work

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With the exception of walking when working downtown, briefly, when I lived in the Boston (while pregnant with David), and taking the bus in Chicago, I always drove to work. During my many years in sales, I either flew to out-of-town appointments and rented a car, or drove to see clients, using my own car.…
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Finding the Car by
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(358 Stories)

Prompted By Senior Moments

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December, 2003, my first time volunteering for the huge “December Sale” at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. My friend Barbara Cole Lee chaired this sale which ran over several days during the first week of December. She is a force of nature, brought in significant buyers from the art world and beyond…
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The Thought Was Just There by
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(358 Stories)

Prompted By Senior Moments

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Now why did I come into the room? The word was just on the tip of my tongue. What was the name of that actress in the movie we just saw? How about the one where your husband INSISTS he is correct when I can prove he isn’t, or that he’s told you something when…
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Ice Dams, Feb, 2015 by
200
(358 Stories)

Prompted By Home Repair

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The winter of 2014-15 was the snowiest we remember in the Boston area with large storm followed by large storm. Then the sun came out, causing some melting of the snow on roof tops, giving way to terrible ice dams from the build up of snow on roofs. We learned the hard way how damaging…
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First Love by
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(358 Stories)

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From the vantage point of 50 years, I can say that Bob and I were a good couple. We had great chemistry; I have learned that having such “chemistry” and remaining intellectually interesting to one another are motivating factors for me. We had fun together, learned songs and sang together. But I was congenitally insecure.…
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