I made my way through central Mexico by myself for a month in the summer of 1975. I’d finished my post-BA education classes to qualify for an Illinois teaching certificate, and I had just broken up with a longtime boyfriend. I flew into Mexico City from Chicago, took buses, walked beaches, swam, wrote, and carried [...]
I often tell new mothers about the “many weanings” a woman goes through and that weaning a child from breastfeeding is just one of many. Now I’m going through another weaning myself: as of this week, all my children will be living on their own. My oldest son lives back east with two roommates in [...]
I was browsing a department store when I saw them. A beautiful pair of black-and-white checked pants with one-inch cuffs, zippered fly, and a thin black belt. Very Lauren Bacall. I bought the pants and modeled them in front of my mirror several hours later. I’ve never looked good in patterns or pants with flies, [...]
Sometimes I think my whole adult life I’ve been searching for the eight-year-old me. The eight-year-old who was so confident, creative, and sure back in 1956. That little girl who wrote stories about collies and Army men and nuclear war, who made up plays with her marionettes, held circuses in her backyard, directed plays, and [...]
Goodbye parties: first of all, you don’t get many. Second, they’re a unique opportunity to honor someone when they’re alive. Along with weddings and showers, a goodbye party is a chance to gather, appreciate, love, and give credit. But, as this cautionary tale will tell, at many public occasions, there’s also a chance to blow [...]
I love the desert. I’m getting a divorce. I’m selling my suburban Salt Lake home. And, for the first time in my entire life, I have the chance to decide where to live all by myself. Right now I’m choosing Moab, Utah. To me it seems a combination of Hawaii, Nome, and Borrego Springs: all [...]
My dad was a brilliant suburban Cleveland kid, a loner, and an only child till his little brother came along when he was 12. Starting his teenage years with a little tag-along brother couldn’t have been easy. He wasn’t brilliant in school academics, though, telling my brothers and me that his teacher separated the class [...]
I finished my 60th birthday present of spending 60 days in Paris: one day each for 60 years lived. I’ve tabulated below my activities, whereabouts, and visits for those 60 days. Tuileries Garden: many walk-throughs Notre-Dame Cathedral: many walk-bys and visits; walking up the stairs for view from the top: 1 time Louvre: 4 visits Musee d’Orsay: 3 [...]
I’ve listed below my top ten reasons to travel to Paris. Maybe you’ll be able only to visit a day or two, or stay for a week, or maybe you’ll be able to move your household to the Left Bank. In my modest 60 days here, these are the reasons I think make sense for making the [...]
It was supposed to be foggy and cloudy, but it was sunny. We were supposed to be tired, but we were energized. There was a transportation strike, but we were walking. These factors all made a perfect combination for a trek up la butte of Montmartre. I hadn’t realized we were walking up to the Montmartre’s [...]
