Maybe it’s a senior-citizen thing. Maybe it’s because I’ve lost three neighbors in the last 14 months. Whatever it is, it’s my new mantra: use the good stuff in my day-to-day living. What am I saving it for? My life is more than half over. No one lives into their one hundred and twenties. I’ve… Continue reading Life is Short, Use the Pretty Bowl
Category: grandma
Being an Older Mom
Ying Ying is the panda in Hong Kong who just gave birth to twins one day before her 19th birthday. In panda years, that’s old. She’s the oldest first-time panda mom ever, because they keep track of that kind of stuff, you know. I was an old mom, too, having my first at 31 and… Continue reading Being an Older Mom
The Gun at Grandma’s House
(re-run) The thing was cold, black, and heavy. Even though I was just a kid, maybe nine or ten, I knew a gun when I saw it. I’d been jumping on Grandma Nellie’s bed. The pillow had fallen on the floor. The gun was under the pillow. I put everything back the way I found… Continue reading The Gun at Grandma’s House
The Gun at Grandma’s House
(re-run) The thing was cold, black, and heavy. Even though I was just a kid, maybe nine or ten, I knew a gun when I saw it. I’d been jumping on Grandma Nellie’s bed. The pillow had fallen on the floor. The gun was under the pillow. I put everything back the way I found… Continue reading The Gun at Grandma’s House
Grandma’s Basement
(re-run) My grandpa and his dad built a house into the side of a hill. The main floor had three small bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room and stairs to the kitchen below. The kitchen looked out over the hill down to the creek and had windows and a back door with a screen door.… Continue reading Grandma’s Basement
Tartan Plaids and an Angry Boy
Monday afternoon the power went out in Monterey. There were high winds. I ran to the Goodwill after working in the wind, picking up pine cones, twigs, tree moss, and branches, and will have to do it again the next time I go down there to check on my little house. While I was there,… Continue reading Tartan Plaids and an Angry Boy
The Gun at Grandma’s House
The thing was cold, black, and heavy. Even though I was just a kid, maybe nine or ten, I knew a gun when I saw it. I’d been jumping on Grandma Nellie’s bed. The pillow had fallen on the floor. The gun was under the pillow. I put everything back the way I found it… Continue reading The Gun at Grandma’s House
The Moon Landing and a Funeral
(re-run) The day we landed on the moon (July 20th, 1969), my parents took the family to a picnic/fishing spot at the Des Moines reservoir. I was going into high school in the fall, so it was a dorky thing to do on a Sunday, but hey? I couldn’t drive yet, and the food was… Continue reading The Moon Landing and a Funeral
A Mouse in the Bed
(re-run) When my oldest child was in 4th or 5th grade, she told me one morning that there was a mouse in her bed. “There’s no mouse in your bed!” I said. “There is,” she said. “I felt it crawling over my leg.” She went off to school, and I told my mother, who was… Continue reading A Mouse in the Bed
A Mouse in the Bed
(re-run) When my oldest was in 4th or 5th grade, she told me one morning that there was a mouse in her bed. “There’s no mouse in your bed!” I said. “There is,” she said. “I felt it crawling over my leg.” She went off to school, and I told my mother, who was visiting… Continue reading A Mouse in the Bed
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 