Suprise Me

They were always readmitted, though; Dave seemed unable to hold a grudge. Read More

To help us become proficient in using a mouse, Solitaire was installed on all our computers. Read More

Sometimes, as in the case of my high school math class, time stopped. Read More

The Chair in the Courtyard When I met my friend Rose she’d been a window for several years.  She spoke lovingly about her late husband Bob and I soon learned he’d been her second husband. One day over lunch Rose and I were reminiscing about our past lives and she told me this story. She’d… Read More

He must have noticed that the word “kidnapping” shocked us. He took the time to give us the word-for-word definition from the California Criminal Code: “Moving another person a substantial distance, without the person's consent, by means of force or fear.” Read More

If the house is ever on fire I pray these make it out safely. Admittedly unprepossessing, they are my childhood stuffed toys. The doll I named Margie after my older cousin whom I thought the most beautiful of girls, and Rory, cause elephants roar, get it? Um, right. Mom made the little dress for Margie… Read More

Holiday in Limbo It’s hard to believe but with the passing of the generations I’m now the family matriarch. It’s not my great-uncle Sid leading Seder but my husband,  not my aunt Babs cooking Rosh Hashanah dinner but me,  not my dad carving the Thanksgiving turkey but my son. But will he this year?  A… Read More

To this day, I still have an array of non-names for my children. Read More

Dan and Sally invited me in, and with their daughter, we played backgammon, and they made me a cup of tea and offered me some cookies. Read More

To play the “Gas Station Game,” you began by taking turns choosing different brands of gas, the way you might pick players on a pickup baseball or touch-football team. He would pick first—that was just the rule—and he would always pick Standard, Read More