(re-run) My parents didn’t swim. When we went on vacation at Clear Lake, and Dad wanted to take us out in a rented pontoon boat, my mom objected. Dad won in the end, and the five kids put on our life jackets. I think my mom did, too. I am sure my dad didn’t wear… Continue reading Pontoon Boat Disaster
Category: OCD
Superstitions
(re-run) She hated Friday the 13th. She would turn the car around if a black cat crossed the street in front of her. And mirrors? She once yelled at me when I held my baby up to one in a German restaurant. “That’s bad luck before her first birthday!” My mother-in-law, may she rest in… Continue reading Superstitions
Pontoon Boat Disaster
(re-run) My parents didn’t swim. When we went on vacation at Clear Lake, and Dad wanted to take us out in a rented pontoon boat, my mom objected. Dad won in the end, and the five kids put on our life jackets. I think my mom did, too. I am sure my dad didn’t wear… Continue reading Pontoon Boat Disaster
The Sequin That Bugged Me
It was on my shoulder, and it was bugging me, one shiny sequin that I’d failed to see when I’d cut them off my second-hand sweater. It was a blue and green floral, found in a thrift store, hardly worn, but the sequins dated it. to the 80s. So I’d cut them off, except for… Continue reading The Sequin That Bugged Me
The Second Shot
re-run) Three weeks ago, I boldly asked the care home owner where my older sis lives if I could have a vaccine. The CVS nurse was inoculating the 5 residents and two care givers, meaning they would have three extra shots in the ten-dose vial, which would be thrown out at the end of the… Continue reading The Second Shot
The Moon Landing and a Funeral
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 always… Continue reading The Moon Landing and a Funeral
Have OCD? Make Lists
It’s Monday morning, and I’m a bundle of nerves, not a good way to start the week. My day is booked with Zumba, a worker woman coming, and Sis to visit in the hospital. I haven’t read my Time Magazine from last week. There’s a livestream concert at 1:00 (normally on a Saturday). Writing helps… Continue reading Have OCD? Make Lists
Living with OCD
I always knew I was different in the way I perceived the world. Instead of needing to do classic hand washing or constantly worrying about germs, I had other weird rituals, like never leaving the house without a Kleenex and needing to have a regular routine. I married a last-minute, no plan, fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants kind of… Continue reading Living with OCD
How OCD Improved my GPA
I’ve been doing research for a kid book involving the presidents. It got me to thinking how back in high school I needed to do a project for my government class about the presidential election. It was fall semester of 1972. It was between George McGovern and Nixon. My class project was to make a… Continue reading How OCD Improved my GPA
Bomb Shelter Blues
Our house on 69th Street in Urbandale, Iowa, had a big bump in the backyard. It’s where my grandfather built a fall-out shelter that connected to our basement. It was during the Cold War, and thoughts of atomic bombs being dropped on us was enough to motivate him to save his daughter and five of… Continue reading Bomb Shelter Blues
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 