When I was seven, I began my musical career by writing a song about going to the drugstore for candy. My first composition was entitled, “If I had a Penny.” Now you know how old I am. There were five kids in my house, and only one parent working for wages. Money was tight. I… Continue reading Best Music Lessons Ever
Category: memoir
Worst Moment of Fame Ever
My oldest child was almost twelve when Michael, the local book store owner, hand-sold me a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. “Trust me. It’s going to be huge!” he said. I looked at the thick book and wondered if my daughter would really get through it. But she was my reader, so… Continue reading Worst Moment of Fame Ever
Worst Customers Ever
Being in retail for twelve years was my eye opener to the range of intelligence of the general public. I thought I’d seen and heard it all teaching public school for ten years, but I was, oh, so very wrong. These people made my remedial English 8th graders of yesteryear look like down-right geniuses. The… Continue reading Worst Customers Ever
You Can Take the Girl Out of Iowa . . .
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 . . .
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
Peace Corps Fail
It was in the spring of my first year of teaching when the call came. I was at Greenwood Elementary in Greenwood, Nebraska. I had applied to the Peace Corps the year before. They had just seen my application. They wanted to fly me to Chicago for an interview that weekend. They gave me 24… Continue reading Peace Corps Fail
Worst Quake Ever
1989 — We’d been in California for almost four years, two Midwestern transplants with a split-level house and two babies. It was our daughter’s third birthday, so Hubby took the day off, and we went to the Oakland zoo. The birthday party with playmates would be the next day. After as much fun as anyone… Continue reading Worst Quake Ever
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
You’re So Hot, You’re So Not
He was cute enough. I’d seen him at several meet-up dancing events. Thor seemed interested. He texted me for several minutes one day, but I grew tired of his games. After telling in him I was probably older than he was, I asked him by text. “How old are you?” “Guess,” he said. “55?” “No.”… Continue reading You’re So Hot, You’re So Not
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
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 