After three months in South America and six weeks of student teaching Catholic high school girls, I headed to Burgos, Spain, with 30 students and a handful of professors from Iowa State and the University of Iowa. It would be my way of earning the final credits of my dual degree. Linda, a high school… Continue reading Loneliest Study Abroad Ever
Category: college
Say What in Santa Cruz
Jennifer met Brad at San Leandro High school. She wasn’t allowed to date, but she was allowed to go to junior prom. The next year Brad asked Jennifer to Senior Ball. It was in San Francisco, and afterward, they went to Pier 39 with everyone else in their limo. Brad had gotten blue contacts for… Continue reading Say What in Santa Cruz
Saying Good-bye to Man’s Best Friend
The family Dachshund just turned eighteen on June 9th. He is a skeleton with fur (photo is from years ago). My son brought him out to my car to to show me the other day, since Wiener now lives with my ex. I have been the one to do the hard job of taking the… Continue reading Saying Good-bye to Man’s Best Friend
Pennies from Heaven
(re-run) When I was sixteen, I saved up my babysitting money and went downtown to Cottage Grove Avenue in Des Moines, where there was a head shop filled with incense, hanging beads, roach clips, black light posters and tie dye. Although I wasn’t a pothead (I didn’t smoke cigarettes either), I enjoyed the ambience of… Continue reading Pennies from Heaven
A Different Kind of Flip
Eight years ago I bought my little house due to a divorce. I downsized and lost 3000 square feet, an angry husband, and many beloved pieces of furniture – a wing chair, an antique trunk, some beds, a dresser, and an antique dresser and mirror that I refinished by hand after buying it in a… Continue reading A Different Kind of Flip
It Started with a Whistle
Ray was a senior at Santa Clara University and RA for his house. Elise was a freshman that September and lived on the floor above. Ray and his buddy were out for a run when Elise and her roommate whistled at the guys in their running shorts. Ray introduced himself later that day, and the… Continue reading It Started with a Whistle
V is for Veritable Quandary
When thinking of a post that starts with v, the most obvious choices would be vacation or victory. I haven’t had either in quite a while, so I had to dig deeper– way back, in fact, to my college days. I went to school in Ames, Iowa, and long about my junior year, a new… Continue reading V is for Veritable Quandary
Q is for Quirky
When I was in high school and bought some of my clothes at the DAV thrift store, they called me quirky. When I made a cool pair of bell bottom jeans out of my dad’s old work pants, they called me quirky, but they also asked me where I got them. When I broke tradition… Continue reading Q is for Quirky
Hold the Crunch
Jim’s job was to put the crunch in the new peanut butter, Jif. One machine chopped the peanuts into slivers, and another machine used pistons to plug the slivers into the creamy product. Jim also had to taste test peanut butter that had been sitting on a shelf for three months in 100 degree heat.… Continue reading Hold the Crunch
The Pilot and the Petite Percussionist
He played the trumpet in community college. She played percussion. He was a sophomore; she was a freshman. He was short, she was shorter. He saw her get out of the car every day, with her boyfriend? No, it was just her brother, Jack. George was a pilot. She liked pilots. “Do you want to… Continue reading The Pilot and the Petite Percussionist
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 