Family pet, circa 1980: My dad rescued a dog once, not from the pound, from Main Street. It was back when Dad and Uncle Ronnie owned a full-service gas station. One warm morning, a Winnebago rode up to the pumps, driving right over the rubber hose that triggered the service bell. Dad came out from…
Family pet, circa 1979: Our gray cat, Tiny, (who weighed well over 15 lbs) decided one day he hated everyone who wore blue jeans; so he hid behind the hedges and leapt out aggressively when neighbors walked by in their Levis. He climbed up their pants legs, biting their outseams (and sometimes a thigh), digging…
My husband and I returned last week from a 10-day beach vacation. We drove my car, Cozy. It was her first trip to the beach. I argued that we should take my husband’s vehicle. It was larger, more room for all our luggage. It was more experienced, having already taken a beach trip the summer…
The summer before I started high school, I wanted a hair style that would make me look cool. My mom heard of a salon only two hours away. (It was 1984. Google reviews could not save the day.) Mom drove our station wagon, her purse in her lap. Granny rode shotgun, and I read the…
My grandfathers lived on the opposite sides of our hometown one by the river, one on a curving hill. Politically, they lived further still. On Saturday mornings, I scrambled eggs with one. On Sunday afternoons, I listened to Big Bands with the other. One completed crossword puzzles with a blue pen. The other read the…
Waves of nausea – roiling from head to stomach, a cold rag pressed to a forehead, a sick day, a TV tray, 7-Up, saltines Waving a flag – team colors (Go, team, go!); a white flag (Let it go.) Ocean waves – gentle one moment, rolling, tumbling, a yellow flag on the beach (Use caution,…
My legs are not what they used to be. Though they’ve never been my best feature, they are now (perhaps) my worst. Marked by cellulite, squiggly blue veins, an age spot that looks like an overenthusiastic freckle, and a few Shar-Pei-ish wrinkles around my knees, my 56-year-old legs are showing their age. All that considered,…
My 10-month-old granddaughter has learned to cruise around the furniture in her living room (which is where I usually babysit). She confidently skirts along the front of the couch beneath the window, reaches for the club chair cushion, tentatively steps toward it, clutches the cushion as she makes her way toward the couch on the…
Recently, while waiting in line at a restaurant, my husband and I overheard some teenagers talking about a friend of theirs who was “so chalant” about something or other. They weren’t talking very loudly, so I didn’t catch it all. My husband and I gave one another knowing smiles, and I even whispered, “Well…that should…
Two little boys one little budget many souvenir shops too many knick-knacks, t-shirts, figurines, seashells with googly eyes, plushies, hacky saks, travel games, hermit crabs in painted shells, bobble heads to choose just one we paid close attention as their little hands picked merchandise up put it back down and then on the night before…