Novelist | Singer
We’re in our 25th year of marriage, which sounds impossible to start with. Al was 55 when we got married in Zaire, so even if we try to deny the passage of time, he is in that undesirable “elderly” category. That category was undesirable even before this virus. And though some information on COVID-19 has…
My mother is nearly absent from the memory book of my first ten years. Only a few episodes remain in my subconscious film strip. Two stand-outs occurred when I was about six years old. One was when she whisked me to the sink to whack my back, dislodging the nasty morsel of melon lodged in…
I have discovered in life that when you are in difficulty, there are all kinds of blessings that pop up from nowhere to provide respite. You simply have to anticipate them and recognize them. There were facts and fears coursing through my head the first days that Mom was living with us. I had never…
I jumped out of bed (more like groaned; remember, this was just months after my back surgery) the first day Mom lived with us. We were taking care of Mom! This was the ultimate gift to a parent, and right when she needed me most. I was the dutiful daughter. We would make our home…
The next day I had an appointment with Mom’s financial advisor. Dennis was a trusted family friend as well. He had known my mother for twenty years. He listened quietly to my story, then said something that would change my life, and my relationship with my Mom. “You know, you should consider taking your Mom…
On Friday, October 31 (Halloween, how prophetic) I was bitten by a deer tick in Maine. I discovered the tick on Saturday morning, embedded in my scalp on the top left side. My friend, Jane pulled it out, and threw it down the toilet. First big mistake. Since we had found it within the magic…