She was born on a fall day in 1969.  My father interrupted our school day to bring us the news.  'It's a girl,' he said, smiling down at us.  I have no recollection of my mother being pregnant, but I know I wasn’t surprised by this ...

Come February, I will be 49: in the fiftieth year of my life. I’m not dreading anything at all about it. But I am pausing for thought. About where I am, what other lessons I'd like to teach myself, and how I want to enter my fifties. Maybe it’s ...

Whenever I watch an old movie with a train scene, I'm always on the lookout for a nun. Because the chances are good there's at least one on that train. I often wonder why this was so. Could it be that nuns were not permitted to move about by plane? ...

I've been (very) recently inspired to construct a sign post at the bottom of my driveway to display frequent messages and thoughts for those driving by.  Most months of the year our house is hidden from view by the foliage... from the road, our ...

The room is tranquil, humid.  Its expanse exaggerates the tiniest of sounds, including the abrupt clack of the door I just opened.  The absence of anyone else evokes a sense of foreboding and, oddly, freedom.   Like most other days over the past ...

Last week while cleaning out a closet, I uncovered my old Game of LIFE.  I couldn’t resist opening the box and giving that wheel a few spins to help me decide if it's destined for the trash pile.  And it got me thinking… ...

Throughout any professional life, there will always be the wrong thing said, the unchecked fly and other awkward incidents in the workplace.  While most of these moments will be laughed off, others will require a scrub brush and a gallon of ...

NOTE: I wrote this about nine years ago, while struggling with my decision to live a childless life.  At that point, my self-proclamation of Childless Mommy soothed my soul and steered me toward a path of self-healing. Today, I no longer allow my ...