Every day in every way
Here’s a sad and funny story. You know what got me to finally stop smoking? (I mean, other than taking a very strong dose of a prescription drug that had an off-label use for smoking cessation.) Yellow teeth. I was about to start a graduate program in public health, and I had accidentally quit smoking ...
The Dad Thing
Those of you who know me well know that my father was not a daily figure in my life. But he played a bigger role than his monthly visits for most of my life would suggest. He’s been gone just over ten years now. And my thoughts on Father’s Day are now almost completely about ...
Sci-fi summer
This is one of those summers when I’m excited about going to the movies. While there are blockbusters every summer, and every Christmas, the lineup this year seems like the perfect (to me) mix of all my favorite themes – science fiction, superheroes, Steven Spielberg, with a dose of Harry Potter and J.J. Abrams. Yes, ...
Exhausted and absurd in the city
My daughter and I returned from our trip a couple of days ago, and I’m still a little out of it from all of the running around catching planes, trains, and automobiles in sweaty New York weather. We had a crazy trip, from almost the first moment we touched down. Upon reaching Manhattan, I opened ...
School’s out – forever?
My five-year-old son is about to graduate from preschool. It’s the same small preschool his older sister graduated from three years ago and the same one where I have been taking both children since they were two years old in toddler class. Seven years ago, when I first visited the preschool, I had no idea ...
All summer in a day
Here’s an excerpt from a trip we used to take to the mountains (from the summer of 2009): We are on our family vacation in the mountains two hours outside of Los Angeles. It’s our third year at the alumni camp for the University of California, Los Angeles, but it feels like our first. This ...
Po-town bound
I’m going to my college reunion in a couple of weeks. My college, Vassar, is in Poughkeepsie, New York. At this point I’m resigned to the trip, and on some days looking forward to it. But with all of the end-of-school-year activities, celebrations, and ceremonies to attend for both of my kids, plus the regular ...
The nest overfloweth
As I stood in the Culver City Petsmart, wanting to take home Buddy the green-cheeked conure, I tried to understand my own logic. He was certainly pretty, a small green parrot with a long red tail, a yellow and red chest, and hints of blue flight feathers on the underside of his wings. And he ...
No-longer-empty nest
Here’s a story I’ve been thinking about lately. If you know me you may know that my six-year-old dog Saki died a few days before Christmas. She’d been sick with glaucoma and skin problems, but she ended up dying of aggressive lymphoma. I have so many regrets that come down to feeling like I could ...
B.M. part two
So, here’s what I’ve learned about moving when you’re not so young anymore: it’s hellishly purgatorial for longer than you think it will be. And we only moved about a mile away from our last home. Seven months after the moving trucks left, I’m not so much unpacking boxes as still hanging family pictures, finding ...
