Jacob and I had our baseball mitts with us. During my recovery, after I moved into the Family Lodge with them, we played catch on the lawn, trying not to let the ball go into the flower beds.
Read More

Flowers on the Windshield 

After more than a year together I knew our marriage wasn’t working.   As we had no kids,  no communal property to speak of it,  and little contention between us,  it was a relatively simple divorce.  The grounds Alan and I agreed on were irreconcilable differences – which I guess is what most divorces are really about.

Actually,  though I said there was little contention,  the logistics were actually a bit stressful.  It was the late 60s and the American divorce laws were being liberalized,  and there was a chance that soon the Mexican divorce I was planning on might no longer be recognized in the States.  But after some scrambling to get a timely flight to Juarez,  I got down there and the dirty deed was done.

At the time I was working at a school not far from the hospital where Alan was a medical resident.   One day about a week or so after the divorce,  I left work,  headed for the faculty parking lot to get my car,  and found a bouquet of tulips under the windshield wipers.

I thought it best to ignore his gesture and I didn’t call him,  but after a few more weeks and a few more bouquets waiting for me in the parking lot,  I relented and agreed to meet Alan at his apartment.

And so for old time’s sake we gave it another try.   But we kept running up against those irreconcilable differences,  and eventually we said our last goodbye,  and with one last kiss we parted.

But all those flowers on my windshield were really rather sweet,  don’t you think?

– Dana Susan Lehrman 

Mr Skeleton 

Every Halloween when my son was young he and the other kids in our 17 story apartment building would start on the top floor and work their way down ringing doorbells.

And for the kids who rang our bell,  we’d set up a spooky tableau with a floppy plastic skeleton we kept for years.  We’d sit Mr Skeleton in our big bentwood rocking chair and festoon him with spiderwebs.

We still have that lovely bentwood rocker,  but what ever happened to that floppy old skeleton?  And where is that freckle-faced little boy in the astronaut costume?

RetroFlash  100 Words

– Dana Susan Lehrman