A Miracle
I could not believe my ears. “Your cat Saffron has been found,” the recorded voice from the pet retrieval service said. Saffron had vanished six years ago. Luckily, I had had him chipped by my vet, a way of ensuring a lost pet will be returned. During the spring of...
Can Cancer be Funny?
Hell, yes! Tig Notaro, interviewed today by Terry Gross on NPR’s “Fresh Air” proves you can laugh and cry instantaneously. In a now famous stand-up routine she delivered at an LA theater Largo, in early August just days after her breast cancer diagnosis, Notaro broke...
Maya’s 40th Birthday
Maya had a vibrant smile, a ready laugh, and spark of mischief in her deep brown eyes. She challenged life as well as loved it – and she was the same with me, racing from hugs to arguments. If she had lived, today would have been her 40th birthday. She lived life fast...
The eyes of Christina Taylor Green
Last year in this country more than 6,500 grieving families said yes to organ donation. For 2011 we know many thousands more will give the gift of life. Among them: the family of Christina Taylor Green, the youngest person to lose her life in the Tuscon shootings....
Lazy Girl’s Healthy Turkey Pick-up
With a nod to my grandmother Eleanor Cotton who used to use turkey leftovers to create a yummy dish known in our family as "Turkey Pick-up," I created a new healthier version. Grandma used stuffing for her version. I've substituted brown rice and added sauteed crimini...
New poem
Hieroglyphs for Meghan I bob and weave in the winter-laden street retracing the hill I climbed each night to bring on labor. When I step back and squint I see the rooms that sheltered us exposed to raw December. Pale and clammy, our house has shrunk. The siding’s gone...
When children die
In the last 24 hours I have learned of two families who recently lost young children - their tragedies came at me out of the blue. I find myself wishing I could sit with the parents and listen to their stories. Since my 19-year-old daughter died suddenly in 1992,...
In hot water
Up to my chin in 105 degree water, suphur pricked my nostrils as I bobbed in velvety fluid. I felt as if I had returned to childhood when play and exploration were the focus of my days. My flip flops slapped the wooden deck as I padded from the mineral baths to an...
Take a walk, save a life
Everyone seems to tap friends for money to cure AIDS, leukemia, or breast cancer - or in my case, cystic fibrosis. Lately, I've been raising funds to support a walk-a-thon sponsored by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Why CF? Because my 22-month-old neighbor Lily has...
Haircut
"You're too vain," my mother scolded everytime I'd obsess over a new hairdo I wanted to try, carefully copied from the pages of Seventeen magazine. I never looked liked the models, but that didn't stop me from trying. I slept on brush rollers, pink sponge rollers with...
