Dear You, Yes, you, stretched out there in that lawn chair behind the cement-deer-family-topped, moss-rose-planted mound. You with yet another book in your lap. You probably shouldn’t have burned that story, you know. But it’s okay. It’ll serve a lesson, and it’ll make a good story. Girl, you’re always going to love books. And […]
Word of the Week: Weary
weary – adjective\ˈwir-ē\ : lacking strength, energy, or freshness because of a need for rest or sleep : bored or annoyed by something because you have seen it, heard it, done it, etc., many times or for a long time : causing you to feel tired This morning I took Grace to the eye […]
Playing the Black Keys
When our 17-year-old daughter was pregnant with our first grand girl, she planned to name her Alizay. It was even frosted across the top of her baby shower cake. But I’d tripped over a house of ill repute by the same name, and she’d discovered “Alize” was actually a line of alcoholic drinks. So […]
Playdate: Where I Am
I wake up while it’s still dark. I reach to my right. My fingers encounter only the widening hole in the sheet. I need to buy a new set today. This is the second time it’s happened. How does a vertical sheet slit start and expand under my husband’s back anyway? What does he do […]
#GoingThere: In Which I Can’t Go There
I woke up at 4 this morning when the dogs went crazy in their crates because a cat upchucked on the bedroom floor, and they wanted at it. They wanted at it bad. I made my husband get up and crawl around looking for the drop of hacked spittle. But I could not go […]
Wow! Thanks! Help!
“Would you mind responding to me and including your personal email address? I have a very exciting opportunity I would love to share with you.” I stare at the email that came through this blog. It’s not spam. My heart thuds a little. Okay, it thumps hard. What? An exciting opportunity? Who’s not interested in […]
Home
I live in Michigan. I originated “down state,” but I grew up “up north.” I don’t think anybody knows for sure where “up north” starts, but where I live now is considered “down state,” but it’s not as far down the mitten as where I started. Up north starts for me where the trees […]
T.S. Eliot: Poet to Work Day 2014
Last year I cajoled Emily Dickinson out of the house for Take Your Poet to Work Day. I forgot failed to tell her I wasn’t really going to work that day but that we were going on vacation, and she was going to meet a lot of new people and have a boatload […]
Fitting in Just Fine (Spiritual Misfit)
I don’t remember what sparked the argument. But we stood outside the cloakroom inside the second-floor classroom in the old brick school that’s long since crumbled. The classroom where the fire escape tunnel slide exited. The tunnel we loved to play in after school while we waited for the two buses to return for […]
Straining Memories
I’ve heard the story many times. I’m dawdling as I dress for school in front of the furnace. My mom’s trying to speed things up. If I miss the bus, she threatens, I’ll spend the day in bed–at least until the bus would normally return late that afternoon. I don’t care. I miss the bus. […]
