We’ve been back from England a week, and I still feel like one of those contraptions — a computer screen, mostly — that shows a spinning wheel and a message saying, “Still processing.” What a lot there was to take in, on many levels. And I sense there won’t be a moment anytime soon when I pronounce the operation fully complete. Trying to integrate what I experienced with what I already know about life in general and my life in … Read More
Money may not be able to buy you love, but it sure can buy you a ticket to space. And family fame — that will land you a book deal sooner than you can say, “Would you like a spot of tea?” Most of us, though, don’t fly in any rockets, literal or metaphorical, and, if we want to get really good at something, we just practice, practice, practice. And then, the hard truth is, we still may be only … Read More
I once had a college professor who, perhaps in reaction to a student who was clearly unprepared for class, leaned back in his chair and mused that he’d always yearned for the opportunity to teach a course called, “Great Books I’ve Never Read.” This is close to the way I feel about my husband’s almost-over trip to Angola. Some months ago, when this was on the horizon, we both thought it might be possible for me to accompany him on … Read More
You know how you can feel how you may be just one person, but you have a bunch of different identities? For me, these would include: In my current family, the mother who tries to stay up with current playlists In the neighborhood, the woman with that big black dog At my current school, the lady who is in the classroom the other lady used to be in In my family of origin, the little sister In my tennis group, … Read More
“Well, you’re golden with the Parking Division anyway!” Until this conclusion of my transaction with the cheerful woman with blond bangs behind the glass window about a year ago, I had never had cause to think of “golden” and “parking” (more specifically “parking tickets”) as having anything whatsoever to do with one another. She reminded me of it, though, when I had reason to return to that same window on a sweltering day, just after I’d turned down … Read More
A friend of mine recently brought her husband to the bus station to embark on a faraway trip. Then a friend of hers asked, “How did you feel about not going?” She replied, “I don’t know. ALASKA!’ You guessed right: that friend was actually yours truly. So I don’t really need to ask anybody else about my feelings; in truth, though, they’re a little hard to parse out. Fortunately, this remains a blog about contrasting elements lying side by side. That’s … Read More
I wasn’t feeling particularly older until my son shouted to me today, while he was starting to pack for our two-day journey out to his new campus, “Mom, what did you take to college?” Well, let’s see….a typewriter, definitely a bunch of records and a turntable, turtlenecks for the long winter, somebody’s old wooden skis, and a yellow Schwinn bicycle. Naaah, it wasn’t that long ago. But here we are: my third child is about to be on his own, … Read More
Let’s hear it for summer, and the pleasures of leaving those pesky home chores for a while to take in some kind of elsewhere, to see how others struggle with their chores—or maybe loll on their front stoops. Just about wherever you go that’s really away, you’ll draw something from the change, see something with a new twist. Depending on what kind of existence we’re accustomed to, each of us takes a journey with a particular slant in our vision. … Read More
A whole lot has happened since Muhammad Ali left us. But since my particular mission here has always been illuminating and celebrating contrasts of all kinds — the “Look, there’s this but right next to it there’s that” moments — I’m sticking with the Greatest for a time. Soon after he died, a friend of mine, in a Facebook post, said she was surprised to learn that Ali had been such a humanitarian in addition to being a boxing champion. … Read More
Déjà vu experiences, much like birds, come in a variety of plumages. They swoop in unexpectedly, often leaving you stunned, or smiling, or maybe wondering about the trajectory of your own life. There are those magical time travel moments when— whoosh—you’re suddenly back in a previous day, and then, amazingly, even what happens after you make the connection is exactly like what it once was, down to the slightest gesture or expression, as if the same movie is playing. Your … Read More