Month: December 1997

Christmas. I had it all planned: Perfectly wrapped gifts, elegant meals and the return of family. Then we bought a door to replaced the sliding glass door. The cats had shredded the screen. A rock thrown by the lawn mower had shattered an outside double pane into a million pieces and ruined the insulative effect…

It happens every time someone shouts, “Look a shooting star!” I look and see a quiet, still sky. I plan to stay up to watch lunar eclipses and sleep through the whole thing. When a once-in-a-lifetime comet passed nearby, it was lost in the haze along the horizon. On the day of the partial solar…

As the damp, overcast weather descends this fall, I felt mighty chilly. I scrounged around the back of my closet searching for warm clothes. Everything was short-sleeved, light weight and summer. I didn’t find any long, warm, fuzzy winter clothing to wear. Nothing. I settled on a short-sleeved, white shirt and jumper and wrapped up…

As a child eating in the school cafeteria, I was introduced to cranberry sauce. I hated the stuff. As a young bride, sharing holiday meals with my new family of in-laws, I politely refrained from voicing my dislike and ate a small serving of the homemade sauce. Eventually I learned to appreciate cranberry sauce, but…

I am the family worry wart. When my husband was packing to flay across the Atlantic to London, I said, “Better pack a change of clothes in your carry-on bag. That way if your suitcase gets lost, you will have something clean to wear.” He sighed and repacked. As he prepared to catch his plane…