Anniversaries — of both happy and sad days — are worth pausing for, don’t you think? Sure, we need to keep putting one foot after another, moving forward and shaping the future rather than dwelling on the past, but a little reflection about our own personal histories helps us to integrate elements of our journeys. A Snowy Day Long Ago On this day, more than 80 years ago, my parents were married in Montreal. Canada, my mother’s country, had entered … Read More
Just before the trick-or-treaters head out, I have a non-spooky question. How do you define what your neighborhood is, and how much does it matter? Can you draw it on a map or is it more of a concept in your mind? Getting More Colorful Close to Home, Even as October Ends I’ve been wondering about this recently, as I experience a noticeable uptick in my own appreciation of the particular area, with a radius of about a mile, where … Read More
Here in New England, August has served up some glorious weather. Those sweltering days in July — June was no picnic, either — needed to be endured, first. If last week and weekend were basketball, we got nothing but net: swish. Apparently the term “dog days of summer” refers specifically to the period between July 3rd and August 11th. For those of us with actual dogs, though, there’s no time limit, and no requirement on high degrees of heat, either. … Read More
Life sure can wallop us, mercilessly, in a way that says, “Better find a way to deal with this pain, because you can’t wish it away.” Either we’re stinging from that kind of wallop right now, recovering from one we’ve already had, or cognizant that we will be walloped sometime in the future — we just don’t know when or how hard it will be. And yet, every morning brings possibilities for the discovery of new joys. Here in New … Read More
It’s that time of year when knowing your priorities is extra-important. Will you dash around trying to accomplish everything, meeting expectations you’ve set for yourself about how much you can do and also how well you’ll pull it off? Will you go along with cultural norms just because they’re out there? Or, will you be content with not focusing on either the quantity or the quality of stuff (whatever you perform, whatever you wrap up, etc.) and instead try to … Read More
Are you pulling yourself together after the midterms? Doing some bouncing back from any disappointing results, from the onslaught of ads over recent weeks, from fatigue at the whole business? If you’re moving on past something that caused some edginess or worse– real distress, you’re not sorry to see it in the rear-view mirror. Recently, like a bird-watcher, I’ve been spotting examples of “recovery” all over the place. Each brings a fresh reminder that the same word can describe very … Read More
Those of us who celebrated high school graduations and college and university commencements across the land last weekend never expected that we’d be doing so within the bookends of two horrific national tragedies. Our loved ones who earned diplomas, walked across stages, were cheered by family and friends, felt the culmination of their efforts on a single day — they shone brightly. Joy was palpable in the soft breezes that danced across campuses, the robes that fluttered, the speeches that … Read More
What’s “old” to you? How distinct is the difference between someone in this category and someone on the next rung down, say, “approaching old”? My mother preferred the word “elderly” to describe most anyone over the age of 80 — and the great-aunts and uncles were close by. The word had a gentler sound to her, I think. And then she herself arrived there, a fact which must mean that I’m soon to follow. This, we learn, is how life … Read More
No, I haven’t become a drug user, and it’s actually not me exactly who needs the fix. Furthermore, it’s not just one but a couple of fixes that have happened in my life recently. So now you probably think that I’ve walked back (news people use that expression to describe what politicians say and then later, try to retract) the title. No– just taking a little leeway here. The whole reason of bringing up fixes in the first place, though, … Read More
My husband and I used to care for three children; now it’s down to one senior dog. Curiously, though, the senior dog — with new patches of white fur around his tall ears, and trepidation when faced with another ascent of the stairs — manages to keep the element of play, something we normally associate with youth, alive. Soon he will be downright OLD, and yet much of the time he has a fiery look in his eye that says, … Read More