I still pray

Dear President Trump,

While I know you’ll never read this, I felt compelled to write it just the same.

When you became president, I scratched my head, and said, “Huh?” You’d never held a political office and seemed, to me, unqualified and unprepared for the enormous job at hand. On top of that, your words stirred hate and anger in your campaign speeches, and your comments about women left me gagging. But, I was trained by my Irish Catholic father, the son of immigrant parents, to […]

On Being Modern

As I opened the box with a picture of a half-eaten apple, excitement surged: soon my life would have speed and efficiency. My current laptop was old, tired, and moving at a snail’s pace. Like that cliché known as a mid-life crisis, I needed a younger, newer model to make me feel alive again. But as I turned it on, my joy quickly dissipated. The internet connection in my new apartment was not recognizing the password and wouldn’t allow me to change it on […]

Setting Me Free

 

As I stood ready to say goodbye, I shuddered. We’d been through a lot: four children, celebrations, the death of loved ones, and my divorce. For thirty-five years, my girlfriend held my hand through it all, but it was time to let her go.

In 1982, my former husband and I went on the hunt for the perfect house. It was a buyer’s market and properties sat allowing shoppers time to make their choices. After a month of seeing everything there was to see, we […]

Learning to Detach

As I opened the box filled with treasured pieces from my youth, I came across a letter I once placed on my mother’s pillow at the age of seven. Always fearful of confrontation when wanting my way, this means of communication helped me get my desires off my chest with no fear of rebuttal – at least in that moment.

“Dear Mommy, I know you want to give my Patti Play Pal away, but I just can’t. It would be like giving one of […]

Hardly Mother of the Year

Back in the days of raising grammar school children, life wasn’t just hectic; it was like careening in circles on Space Mountain in Disneyland with no way off. Each morning, as I dragged my still tired brain out of bed; I went to the calendar to check the color dots – one for each of my four hooligans. It was my way of visualizing who’d need my undivided attention after school. Some days, it was all of them.

In those early years, I dreamed of […]

An Inconvenient Celebration

As I pulled letters out of the mailbox, my eyes immediately became transfixed on a large cream-colored envelope, complete with elegant calligraphy. By the weight, number of stamps, and shape, I knew something wonderful was waiting inside.

“Another wedding.” I cried out, excited. “How fun!”

For as far back as I can remember, life celebrations meant a party, and how I love receiving an invitation to any party; whether it be a birthday, baptism, graduation, or wedding. But, there’s one festivity where you don’t need an […]