Posts Tagged ‘happiness’
Museums and Mekking Eggs
Doesn’t everyone think their grandchildren are the very best ones around? Of course, my own grandson is truly amazing. At twenty-one months, his vocabulary is something of a shock: he is able to attach names to objects and emotions rather than simply repeating them all back to me like a parrot who doesn’t know what it is…
Read MoreThe Gift of a Son’s Sobriety
For the last ten years, I have been steeped in sadness–and without hope–for my older son, who is a heroin addict. Last year, he overdosed four times on Fentanyl and went into cardiac arrest, barely being resuscitated in the emergency room after his heart ceased to beat. Still, even these close calls did not stop…
Read MoreLet’s Get Personal
I used to call these pesky ideas now running around in my head New Year’s “resolutions.” However, it seems there’s a better word for the goals we set when the calendar flips to January 1st. The writer and psychologist Diana Raab, whom I am lucky enough to count among my friends, has suggested that the…
Read MoreThe Bounty Of Family
What a joyous holiday our family had this Thanksgiving just past–four full days of wonder. Here is my little grandson, who sat at Nana’s holiday table for the first time, built trucks and trains and Duplo houses with me, went hand-in-hand to the playground, and drifted off to his parents singing my childhood lullaby. And now onward, into…
Read MoreMore Than Pumpkin Pie
The words of the following two people have resounded throughout the years, and these quotations seem particularly appropriate at this time of thanksgiving–when we should be mindful of more than pumpkin pie. May you mull them over now, and next week, as you join hands around the table with your family and friends. Have a…
Read MoreRolling With The Wrinkles
Hey there, it’s Halloween! Pumpkins and skeletons and spider webs on the stoop. Candy bars and Smarties in a big bowl. Tricks and treats and pranks. Little kids greet this day with anticipation, much laughter, and a genuine sense of celebration. I enjoy answering the door to see their carefully constructed costumes, especially those that…
Read MoreAutumn’s Light
Autumn came bright and early that year. My toddler and I wandered down the sidewalk over a carpet of leaves, one that created a riot of color crackling under our feet. I held his hand as he balanced himself, precariously, on a low stone wall. Periodically pain streaked, low and mean, through my belly. For…
Read MoreTo Understand And Be Understood
How many of us have friendships that span decades and still remain intact? From my childhood, I have only one such remaining–the eleven year old girl that I called my best friend during grammar school. While there was no such thing as a BFF at the time, the acronym captures our relationship most precisely. So,…
Read MoreWhat The World Does When You Are Doing Nothing
In the wee hours of Sunday morning, just as Daylight Savings Time kicked in, my delayed flight from Florida finally touched down in Baltimore, which is my home airport. I had been in Tampa for the previous four days, attending an enormous convention of writers, publishers, agents and representatives of writing programs. Each day there…
Read MoreSandwiched Between Chaos And Delight
Our trip over President’s Day weekend to visit my son, daughter-in-law and six-month-old grandson did not begin auspiciously. Before we even arrived in New York, our brand-new dog sitter phoned to tell us that, while she was throwing the ball in the rec room for fetch–crazy Mac, (our youngest Dal), had crashed into the wine…
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