(re-run) A friend and I had a glass of wine together the other night and reflected back on our lives and the times we should have been died but didn’t. Some would call it luck. Others would call it having a guardian angel. Some would say that was a weird way to spend an evening.… Continue reading On Guardian Angels
Category: worst
Behind Closed Doors
(re-run) I read a memoir about a woman’s tough childhood, with violence, danger, and an abusive older brother. I recommended it to Facebook friends online. A friend said she didn’t like it because she didn’t think the book rang true. “The Mormon part or the survivalist part?” I asked her. “Neither.” She didn’t think anyone… Continue reading Behind Closed Doors
A Different Kind of Fall
(re-run from 2018) In my 33 years in California (one and a half down south, the rest up north), I can’t remember a fall where we have not had a drop of rain by mid-November. I also can’t remember ever having three big fires in less than two years that have burned down whole communities… Continue reading A Different Kind of Fall
The Racist, the Ficus Tree, and my Garage Sale
(re-run) When I was six, the one black boy in my elementary school was in my class. His name was Teddy. This was white-white-white Iowa in the 60s. My first grade teacher, Mrs. Van Cura, got angry at the class one day for misbehaving and said, “Whoever doesn’t behave will have to play with Teddy… Continue reading The Racist, the Ficus Tree, and my Garage Sale
Grizzly Bear!
(re-run) An Amazon robot punctured a can of Bear Mace, sending 80 employees to the hospital before Christmas. It reminded me of this true account as told to me at a holiday party by a friend’s daughter’s boyfriend’s father figure. His name is Bob. In 2008 you take your wife, Liza, and your teen-aged kids… Continue reading Grizzly Bear!
The Tree Whisperer
(re-run) I walk my neighborhood once or twice most days while walking Dog A and Dog B (I can’t walk them together since the newest little weirdo is nuts). Because I am a tree hugger and have planted more than sixty trees at my various houses over the years, I will free a distressed tree… Continue reading The Tree Whisperer
RBG & MLK, a Generational Perspective
(re-run) My mom, who just moved to CA, asked me why the TV commercials are advertising for the holiday weekend. “What holiday is it?” she asked during our weekly phone call. “Marin Luther King Day,” I said. “Well, he wasn’t even a president,” Mom said. “He was the greatest orator in the Civil Rights Movement,”… Continue reading RBG & MLK, a Generational Perspective
He Ain’t Heavy, He’s my Match Date
(re-run) Ingrid had been on the online website for a little over a month. She had tried meeting a few guys but only if they were willing to email back and forth and actually pick up a phone and call. Fred had flirted and called, and now it was time for them to meet. He… Continue reading He Ain’t Heavy, He’s my Match Date
The Red-tailed Hawk and the Toddler Fence
(re-run) I’m a bird lover. I feed the song birds and the finches. I have an ongoing water supply in the form of a fountain in my back yard. I’ve planted native plants for the hummingbirds. When I hike, I am thrilled to find a hawk feather to add to my hat. Twenty-odd years ago,… Continue reading The Red-tailed Hawk and the Toddler Fence
Loneliest Study Abroad Ever
(re-run) 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… Continue reading Loneliest Study Abroad Ever
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 