At the end of my ten-week student teaching in Venezuela, one of the teachers said that I could interview to come back to teach at Campo Alegre the following year. She said they were always looking for American teachers. “You can stay with me during the summer,” she said, “until you get your apartment.” The… Continue reading You Can Take the Girl Out of Iowa . . .
Category: humor
Grabby Guy’s Goodness
Brenda was a grad student at Tufts in Boston. She was tired of dating and was thinking of getting her doctorate in nutrition after she got her Master’s degree. Brenda’s two roommates, who were also a couple, told Brenda she needed a night out to go dancing. Brenda got ready and then waited for them… Continue reading Grabby Guy’s Goodness
Worst Mom Ever
A mother has to choose her words and actions carefully, for eighteen years! The mom of three adults, I still hear about the horrible things I said and the awful things I did to them as children. Oldest daughter, as a teen, with her dad’s dark heavy eyebrows — What I said to her —… Continue reading Worst Mom Ever
Parking Lot Pick-up
Ann and her friend, Laura, were bored. It was Saturday night, and they’d been at their all-girls’ college, Holy Names, for a whole week. It was time to find some guys, to find a party. They pulled into Berkeley and headed for Fraternity Row. Laura spotted someone she had dated before and rolled down the… Continue reading Parking Lot Pick-up
Drive-in Movie Blues
Linda would start high school in the fall. She was doing summer stock at the Flamingo Hotel in Santa Rosa. The play was Bye Bye Birdie, and she was playing the part of a show girl. Jeff, one of the good-looking stage hands, drove a blue ’66 Cadillac convertible with a white top. Thinking she… Continue reading Drive-in Movie Blues
Smooth Operator
His name was Ryan, and he wore the brightest shirts – screaming teal, bullfighter red, and obnoxious orange. It was easy to pick him out of the crowd. He was a dancer at the Thursday night venues and would come find me each night for one dance. “I just want you to know,” he’d say… Continue reading Smooth Operator
Same Old Grind
Advanced bruxism – that’s what it’s called when you clench and grind your teeth in your sleep. I didn’t know I had it until my dentist noticed my worn lower teeth at a check-up. She made me a mouth guard to save them. I know when it all started. It was in the big house… Continue reading Same Old Grind
Best Dog, Worst Dog
She was under a rusted-out Ford pick-up truck that looked as though it had been parked there for decades. Her sister was an ugly black and white Australian blue heeler/Brittany spaniel mix. She wasn’t much prettier. “Are you sure you want that one?” my future husband asked. I looked at the black spot on top… Continue reading Best Dog, Worst Dog
Black Lights and Beatles
You know that one song that whenever you hear it, it takes you back to a time and place when you were doing something so memorable, while it was playing in the background, that it is burned into your brain for eternity? We’d seen the guys at the Iowa State Fair the summer before, where… Continue reading Black Lights and Beatles
Prince Not So Charming
He was dressed as a prince in his puffy sleeved blouse and velvet jacket. I was dressed as a 1930’s nurse from Samuel Merritt Nursing School in Oakland. Admittedly it was a weird Halloween costume, but the woman at the estate sale had practically given it to me after I bought $200 worth of antiques… Continue reading Prince Not So Charming
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 