“Anything new with Occupy?” my 12 year old asks me He’s asking because he hears me talking about it all the time, Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Tulsa, Occupy Oakland. If there is a group, even a small group occupying so much as a street corner, even a dumpster, I’m all over it. I go on-line
“Why don’t they speak English here?” she said for the 5th time in the last hour. I repeated: “They are Spanish mom! They don’t have to speak English!” “Well no one here understands a word I am saying” she said clearly disgusted at her failed attempt to buy oranges. I reminded her for what felt
We are not naked people. That’s what my wife said about us soon after we started dating. Without explanation, I knew what she meant. We were not the kind of people who walk around naked, especially during the daytime. I don’t even like taking my socks off, so if barefoot was intolerable, naked was out
At last I was going on vacation. I chose Cancun Mexico. It screamed international without having to give up the convenience of Wal-Mart. My sister in law, always game to go away agreed to come before I even finished telling her the destination. Had I said, I was thinking of going to visit Nana, she
This, my children, my grand children, and great great grandchildren and to their children as well, this is my gift to you. I want you to have this keepsake and learn a little about someone who loved you all before you were even born. If you’re reading this, then, know that I am with you,
It Wouldn’t Kill you to Call Me? Read More »
“I have some bad news” said the voice through the phone for the second time in a week. I felt my heart race and my spirits plummet as I braced myself for the news. Had I not received a similar phone call just two days earlier, I might not have assumed the worst, but in
“I have a surprise for you” said my ex as she bounded into my kitchen without so much as knocking on the door. “Oh, ok, hold on a sec.” I respond to her with a mix of dread and feigned enthusiasm. I finish doing the dishes as the calm of my house descends into chaos.
I Sing the Buddha Electric Read More »
My father came to Connecticut to live near me. Within weeks of his arrival we found out he was dying. It shouldn’t have come as too big a surprise. Only a year earlier we moved my 89-year-old grandmother from New York to Connecticut. We packed and unpacked all of her things. She was even going
I’m Dying, Can I Call You Back? Read More »
All I heard was the word married in excited muffled sounds as I listened through the window. That’s how it was with my wife and her sisters. They chatted it up on the phone on the weekends and although my wife liked to talk on the phone while walking around the block so all the
I am a whore, a prostitute, a holler for a dollar low life scum. I lied to the Girl Scouts of America. I have lied to the American Cancer Society, The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Lutheran Adoption Services, Catholic Charities, even a community program that helps at risk youth. I lied. I will continue to