Younger people are flocking to salons begging stylists to dye their hair silver. I spent 20 years paying stylists to cover my gray with blonde highlights. Now, gray is the new blonde. Who knew? Last February I decided enough was enough. It was time to go au naturel. I...
I used to joke about how coloring my hair was akin to keeping my portrait in the attic the way the fictional Dorian Grey did – one day, I’d have to face reality. The day has come! I’ve decided to let the gray grow in. In The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde, a...
For months, I’ve stared at the grainy ultrasound on my daughter’s refrigerator. But on July 30, that black and gray image came into focus. Francesca Blanche Coleman arrived, all 8 lbs., 1 oz. of her. The moment I held her in my arms – little pointed chin, rosebud...
A few days before my father turned 91, I reminded him of this milestone. “Why that’s amazing,” he said, surprised and delighted, wrapped in a protective cocoon of dementia. My father’s only choice at that point was to be here now. This man smoked two packs of...
“Life gets mighty precious when there’s less of it to waste.” – Bonnie Raitt There was a time in my life I thought I’d never be happy again. But I’ve learned to look at seasons of life, not just days or years. Lately, I’ve been very happy. Not euphoric, mind you, but...
In the movies, relatives gather around for last words from their dying loved one. They lean in for that last pearl of wisdom or poignant plea for forgiveness. Real life is a little different. My sister Cathy bent over my father’s bedside and said, “Dad we all love...
I made raspberry pancakes this morning in honor of my 92-year-old father. Dad has become a will o’ the wisp of himself, gasping for air, his cheeks and eyes sunken, barely able to sip water, drugged to the gills on morphine and Atavan. But when the nurse came in and...
"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...