Recently I came across a document that is meaningful to me in several ways: the divorce document from January 1987 that finally ended my first marriage. As I held the papers in my hands, I smiled as it brought to mind something completely unrelated.
A number of years ago, my brother and I were driving toward town in Ilwaco, Washington. It was a crisp early-Autumn morning, and the sun was positioned just right so that everything was backlit. Just as we pulled up to a stop sign, a bald eagle swooped low in the sky in front of our car. Perfectly framed… Read More »
Nothing spatial is intuitive for me. Up or down, above or below are clear. But when I encounter left or right, clockwise or counter-clockwise, east or west — I have to put intense effort into matching the word with a direction.
Today I am pondering the potential for the recycling of the universe. We know that the universe has been expanding from the instant of the big bang, and we also know (well, theorize) that this expansion is accelerating.
Anybody who is the primary or even just frequent caregiver for a loved one with Alzheimer’s will eventually experience the day when he no longer knows your name.
In the mid 20-teens, my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. By that time he was already starting to have mental slip-ups, enough that when he received the diagnosis, he seemed to promptly forget it. After twice having to tell him that he had the disease, my stepmom decided that maybe he didn’t need the reminders and just… Read More »
Between my mother and father, I had seven aunts and uncles: fourteen if you include their spouses. My folks moved across the country from Minnesota to California long before I was born and were strangely withdrawn from the families they had left behind. So even though I had a vast army of aunts, uncles, and cousins in the… Read More »
Every morning, Dave and I go to McDonald’s for breakfast.
I started this blog post in the form of a journal nearly 30 years ago. Later it became a web page, and then in 2015 I added it to this blog. I come back to edit this list from time to time (and update the publish date each time). This is my list of recommended fiction, sorted by… Read More »
This little pink paper crane — no doubt made from a Post-It, was given to me by an Uber driver about a year ago. His father had just died, and we spent the long drive from the airport talking about death and life and everything in between. We arrived at my house long before either one of us… Read More »
Many people have the ember of a creative spark in them. This ember rarely is given a chance to catch and grow into a flame…
On a spring day about a year ago, after urging another particularly eloquent friend to not give up on his blog, I realized that I hadn’t really answered for myself that question of why I keep a blog. Why do I write, and in particular why this blog? I’ve been mulling over this for over a year now, and here’s my answer: This blog is my legacy.
The world witnessed weekly and sometimes daily revelations of assault and rape in the #MeToo-drenched 2018, culminating in the horrific Kavanaugh hearing. During this disturbing time, I too often heard people shrug these stories away. Even if they believed them, they didn’t see the importance.
All through my adulthood, my name has nagged at me. It’s a nice name, but am I using it only because I was ordered to? It’s pretty, but is it mine? Is it really me?
Every day, except when I am traveling, my partner Dave and I eat breakfast at McDonald’s. Looking around the room as I munch my Egg McMuffin, I see a diverse range of people who I would probably never have encountered in the normal circles of my life.