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I Get by With a Little Help From My Friends by
200
(358 Stories)

Prompted By Learning To Cook

/ Stories

My grandmother had given up cooking by the time my mother lived at home with her parents after her year studying dance in New York in 1935, so she didn’t learn to cook from her own mother. After she married at age 32, she learned a few basic recipes from her oldest sister’s housekeeper. That…
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Learning to Fly by
200
(358 Stories)

Prompted By Planes and Trains

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Until December of 1969, I had never been on an airplane. When it became clear to my father that I’d go away to college (the choice came down to Northwestern in suburban Chicago, or Brandeis in suburban Boston) and I would fly to either location, Dad agreed to let me go to a mini-camp reunion…
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Prinderella and the Cince by
200
(358 Stories)

/ Stories

I loved fairy tales as a young girl. I remember that I was reading “Grimm’s Fairy Tales” when I fell ill during the summer of 1964 and spent a week in the infirmary. I was 11 years old, had thrown up during Sunday morning services, (Our Father, who art in Heaven…blechhh…). The whole camp used…
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412 Beacon Street by
200
(358 Stories)

/ Stories

Dan and I have always had specific design ideas. They have changed as our tastes have grown more sophisticated and our financial means also grown and changed through the years, but we always knew what we liked. We married young and started our life together with very limited resources. My father gave us some money…
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From Florence to Boston by
200
(358 Stories)

Prompted By Customer Service

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We decided to take our first-ever trip to Italy and began planning in 2010. The trip took place in October, 2011. We reached out to our wonderful and well-traveled Vineyard neighbor, who delights in offering travel suggestions. We told him our thoughts about destinations and price points for accommodations, he came back with a variety…
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S**t Faced by
200
(358 Stories)

Prompted By Drugs and Alcohol

/ Stories

Does anyone remember the days when it was acceptable, even encouraged, to drink at lunch? This story takes place on June 4, 1976. It will later become evident how I remember the exact date. Dan and I both worked at our first jobs at SofTech – he as a programmer; I, a Program Librarian (glorified…
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Derby Evening, 2017 by
200
(358 Stories)

Prompted By Priciest Purchase

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David visited from London at the end of the summer, 2017. A large storm brewed off sea. It didn’t affect our weather, but churned up violent waves and such high tides that we had no beach, which forced its closure. We went over, just to look at the odd sight. So we trundled over to…
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Elaine Zeve by
200
(358 Stories)

Prompted By Favorite Teacher

/ Stories

Because of the peculiarities of the Detroit school system, I had Mrs. Zeve for 2A and 3B, but a whole school year, which was unusual for the Pasteur Elementary School. (I think of her as my second grade teacher, though that wasn’t technically true.) She was a 32 year old divorcée with a young daughter…
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Writing That Paper by
200
(358 Stories)

Prompted By Procrastination

/ Stories

Though he is five years my elder, my brother and I have always been close. He is super-smart and he did help me with some homework when I was a kid and looked to him for guidance. He left for Brandeis as I began 8th grade. My mother’s sisters predicted that I would flunk out…
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One Singular Sensation by
200
(358 Stories)

/ Stories

Shortly after we married, in the mid-70s, we had a lot of friends living in New York City and we’d visit often, driving in, staying on the pullout sofa with Paul and Beth. Jeffrey and Susan, residents to this day, always had a pulse on what was au courant. In 1975 they told us about this…
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