Does this look like the kind of woman who would ask her daughter to write her obituary as a birthday present? NOT REALLY, NO. That cheerful smile hides a rather gothic sensibility. She looks like she’d ask for a nice book, doesn’t she? Maybe a Rosamunde Pilcher novel or something by the Dalai Lama. But, [...]
1. My brother and I wear the same maniacal grin when playing tennis. As reported by his affectionate, long-suffering girlfriend. We have the same twisted sense of humor when playing Apples to Apples. As reported by everyone. 2. The baby toddled over to give me a hug as soon as I walked in the door. [...]
My mom and I drove up to Nevada City this weekend to celebrate a friend’s 80th birthday. She’s the matriarch of quite a clan, full of siblings who actually like each other and good-natured ribbing over the collective lack of vocal talent. If memory serves, “WE SUCK!” was the rallying call of the off-key John Denver [...]
Many, many thanks to everyone who commented with bits of your life story. And thank you to everyone who read and thought about commenting before getting distracted by something else and wandering off (that’s my usual commenting style, so it’s one I can appreciate). I’ve been sick the past few days, so it’s been great [...]
Most years I have a boyfriend who doesn’t necessarily want to spend four days in my mom’s guest room, formerly known as my room. At least my old room still has a bed. My brother’s became a shrine to electronics, housing the TV, computer, and cat’s sun lamp. The sun lamp is officially the desk [...]
I’m not very good at dreaming. Well, that’s not entirely true. I’m quite accomplished at imagining Paco the cabana boy and all the strawberry daquiris he’s going to bring me as I languish by the hot tub. Every so often he fans me with peacock feathers and asks if I need more guacamole. Jeeves, the [...]
What fussy little strand of DNA makes it so darn satisfying to clean out kitchen cupboards? I keep tip-toeing into the kitchen and throwing the doors open, just for the pleasure of looking at my neatly – maybe even alphabetically – arranged boxes of dried pasta and plastic tubs of cumin. Apparently, this “cleaning” thing [...]
As she was dishing up macaroni and cheese last night, my mom accidentally dumped a spoonful of elbow pasta into her water glass. Instead of hopping up to empty her glass and pour fresh water, she shrugged and drank around the macaroni. Which I find vastly entertaining because this is precisely something I would do: [...]
Freak lightning storms set off something like 800 fires in central California this week. When I woke up and left the house yesterday, the sky was tinged with smoke. I drove the 50 miles from San Francisco to San Jose yesterday afternoon under a gray haze. My brother works as a firefighter with the forest [...]
I never met my grandmother, Margaret. She died before I was born. But according to family photos, genes will out. We all have big smiles with big teeth, the better to eat big meals. Cousins were visiting from Minnesota last week and, while having a spirited discussion about lunch, my mom was pinned to her [...]
