Phonics

After that first brief image, looking at the light under the door and listening to my mother’s voice, the memories of childhood come in indistinguishable order. We moved once, when I was 10 or so, and everything I remember is divided into the old house and the new house.

The Beginning

Blogging started for me as a venue for writing a memoir, of sorts. I’ve spent more time lately on other things, but the memoir is still important to me. So, here is how it starts.

What Would Have Been

I had a long talk today with a good friend who recently made a pretty big career decision, and is having a bit of buyer’s remorse. It’s too soon to tell whether the choice he made will work out well. But for now he’s tormented with questions of what might have been.

Of course, we all do that sometimes. And when you are in that mode it’s hard to stop. He and I are both fairly logical people, and we like to solve problems by thinking through them. But you can’t think your way out of what might have been. It’s like driving on a mobius strip — you feel like you’re doing something but you just keep looping around. (Or maybe it’s like driving with me through a parking ramp!)

Christmas

Someone kindly told me they enjoyed my Thanksgiving post, and asked if I was going to write any Christmas reminiscences. I’ve been thinking about that, and for some reason it’s much more difficult. Because Christmas itself is kind of difficult.

The expectations for Christmas are so much higher, and the scope so much larger. Thanksgiving is one big dinner, followed by a long weekend. Christmas requires cards, presents, parties, decorations, and at least one big meal, and it is as often as not followed by going to work the next day. Add to that the timing — the last few days of the calendar year are a busy time in many workplaces — and you have a lot of pressure. I think if I had to pick a favorite day of the year, I would have to pick December 26.

John Lennon

So tonight, I just hit Play, and John Lennon happened to be in the CD player. And I fell even more in love with him than ever. I know this sort of thing is supposed to happen when you are a teenager, but back then I wasn’t allowed to listen to rock and roll, and I really didn’t discover Lennon until shortly before his death — which I remember like it was yesterday.

Elaine

It has been almost a year since my mother-in-law passed away. I spent some time this weekend talking with two of her sons about life, and their mom, and their first Christmas without her. In honor of all that, I decided to repost another item from the old blog, about my last visit with her.

For someone who was as difficult and aggravating as she could often be — it’s been surprising how much I’ve missed her.

Thanksgiving 2007

I had a rather stressful childhood, and a very stressful and eventful early adult life. So the other day, it was with some feeling of entitlement that I thought … my life is so low on stress these days. I have a steady job with decent pay, a good husband, a nice home, and two sons who are both making excellent progress in fashioning rewarding adult lives. I have terrific friends. I’ve gotten to travel, to try new experiences like writing, and with a little luck I still have a few years left before I have to go to a nursing home. I wondered, though, how long this peaceful interlude could last.

Thanksgiving

What with all the turkey roasting and pie baking, I didn’t have time to write anything new. So, with apologies to those of you who’ve been following for a while, here is an updated version of last Thanksgiving’s post.

Pooches

I keep meaning to take pictures of the dogs, so today I finally got around to it.

Ruining the Holidays

Oh, I just remembered two commercials I saw that really annoyed me. If you’ve known me for a while, you’ll know how I don’t love the holidays, in general. Really, I don’t hate holidays themselves. I just hate what we do to them.