Suprise Me

I liked the old fisherman from the beginning.  He sits comfortably on a body-contoured stump, exuding patience and serenity, lightly holding his fishing pole.  His jug is alongside (maybe for fish storage, maybe for refreshment). He wears leather strapped sandals, a broad sun hat, and a flowing green and blue robe.  His white beard and hair suggest the wisdom of age. He is contemplative, certainly in no hurry.  He may be surprised that his serenity has been interrupted by the arrival of the fish.  Read More

It’s all over the news. You might even be sick of hearing about it by now. Just one word: Wordle. Well, actually up to six words. Five-letter words. But only one word wins. A different word every day, the same word for everyone. In the world. Free. (For now.) And you can only play once… Read More

As an adult, I have given public final farewells for three important people in my life: my father, my mother, and my ex-husband. Read More

In July of 2018, Arthur Andrew Gelien died. I knew him as Tab Hunter and had his picture pasted in a scrapbook devoted to my celebrity crushes. I was my granddaughter’s age when I swooned to his song Young Love and watched him in the movie Damn Yankees. He was cute and, like several of… Read More

I like to take my time when I pronounce someone dead. Read More

Nearly every winter, it seems, my wife and I engage in a friendly feud about how many pets are enough. Read More

I come from Detroit. My family was in the automotive industry. My great uncle, Meyer Prentis (Uncle Meyer) was the Treasurer of General Motors when it was the largest corporation in the world. My dad’s oldest brother was it’s comptroller. My dad worked for the Chevrolet division in Flint, MI before WWII, but upon returning from… Read More

Overture.  The Middletown Ct. Police Station—Bartok’s Sonata for two pianos and percussion. Before beginning my job as a substitute teacher, I traveled to the police department for a fingerprint security check.  The officer, a large friendly African American interviewed me. “Where will you be teaching?” “Middletown High School.” “Oh,” he warningly replied. “Do you know… Read More

I don’t think the memory of that ever left her, written wordlessly in a scar on her heart. Read More

I have been thinking lately about the many different roads or turning points that have made up the map of my life thus far. Sometimes, the choice of path was the more traveled one. Sometimes, I chose the one less traveled by. Looking back on a lifetime of choices, it seems like some of the most important ones chose me. Read More