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Moved by Someone Else’s Father
My Dad, Henry, in 2011 I went to a funeral for a friend’s father yesterday. Now that more of my contemporaries’ parents are hitting their 80s, I seem to be attending more services for a mother or...
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The Impressions We Leave
I had just forced myself back into running after a hiatus of several weeks (and, truth be told, I’m not really a runner anyway). A runner passed me. As he did, he flared his left fingers into a brief...
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Darkened Windows
The windows of the corner room in my house were dark when I pulled in last night, which should have been no surprise. With a few exceptions, they have been dark since January. I stopped the car in the...
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Dad Deconstructed
Dad comes to me in pieces. As I approached what would have been his 97th birthday, it was his smile that came to me, the smile I felt he saved for me, the one I thought of as my smile. This week, I’ve...
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Trying to See
As I finished my last blog post, my daughter was quietly singing Billie Holiday’s hit, “I’ll be seeing you.” She sang the last line as I put the coda on my post. After my father’s death, my mentor Jim...
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Love Three Times Over
When my husband asked me to marry him thirty-two years ago, I’d have said yes right away, if I hadn’t missed the proposal. That Christmas afternoon, I was downstairs, watching TV in my bathrobe, happy...
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A Quiet Kind of Influence
When I was an adolescent, I made some very unfortunate makeup choices. One of my first signature looks was an alarmingly bright turquoise cream eyeshadow that I slathered on both eyelids. I thought it...
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“I Pray to Float”
Only two young children were brave enough to join Rev. Mary when she asked for help with the sermon this morning. They shyly approached the front of the church where Mary awaited with pens and index...
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On Waiting
When I married, I knew I would never again live in Western Washington. Although I would return to visit my parents, the pleasures I took for granted would no longer be mine by right of residency. The...
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Driving Dad
My Dad gave lots of feedback, just not the critical kind. A while back I mused on the topic of my horrible adolescent makeup choices (tarantula-like eyelashes) and wrote: I remember few rules from my...
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Going The Distance
Dad on January 8, 2012 On a good night, when the wine was flowing and we were gathered as a family around the dinner table, my father told jokes. My brother Bruce and I were given to puns of the worst...
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The Sunset Years
Reaching for Henry at a family wedding in 1996 A little heartbreaker on my way back from workout this morning. A familiar elfin woman strolled down the street, her hands clasped behind her back. Should...
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