Some people are self-motivators. They get up, look at their to-do lists, and actually do the things on them. These people can be very annoying. I know because I live with one. […]
Discipline: The Thrill of Routine
Mourning the Loss of a Woman I Should Never Have Met
Madiha was my step-mother-in-law—my husband’s father’s wife. My husband’s mother passed when he was 16, his sisters, much younger, needed care. Needed a mother. Madiha became my father-in-law’s second wife. Madiha passed […]
The Vacation Thief
For the first time since vacation planning in March, I was grateful rather than resentful we weren’t vacationing in Europe.
A Friend Indeed: The Importance of Being Valued
There are some people for whom the term friend means pretty much what it does on Facebook: someone with whom they have interacted in some (presumably) pleasant way. I am not one […]
How to Graduate from a Pandemic State of Mind
I am buying graduation decorations and stringing them up. A big “Congratulations” banner will hang across the window on the back porch. The new outdoor lights dipping down from the upstairs balcony […]
Thoughts About the Future
1. Will there be hummingbirds? 2. Sometimes I comfort myself by thinking in geological time, astronomical space. When humans die out on the planet we call Earth, what other species will be […]
Reopening Social Life: Making the Cut
Dear Fill in the Blank, I understand that you have dropped fifteen of your Facebook friends. I understand this because they have all been complaining to me. What did they do wrong? Was […]
What Our Dreams Can Mean
One of the most satisfying dreams I ever had was incredibly violent. I was a teenager in my dream, leading my friends through a maze-like neighborhood, while a group of bullies followed […]
Is It Okay to Drink and Read Anne Lamott?
It seemed a fair question to ask myself, since that’s exactly what I was doing. I don’t have a clear answer, possibly due to the drink. Lamott is famous for writing […]
What She Said, July 1: Jessica Ennis
“The only one who can tell you ‘you can’t win’ is you and you don’t have to listen.” –Jessica Ennis
The Gloria Sirens 