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PASSING TIME, PASSING THROUGH

September 10, 2024 by

Passing time with my mother in-law on her birthday was a gift to everyone. Her birthday was May 5, Cinco de Mayo, and we worked it hard every year. So did she.

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MARRIAGE TRAP, STARRING BEN AFFLECK

December 12, 2022 by

Does a ‘marriage trap’ sound different than a marriage between two movie stars? Edward Hopper painted what looks like a marriage trap. A couple in a room ignoring each other, trying to find anything to do besides talk. He reads bad news, she taps a sad note. Looks like a trap to me. But, what’s […]

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MY MOM THE MOTHER IN LAW

April 29, 2022 by

After a recent mother in law conversation I ended up disappointing myself. Why? Because I took the easy way out with the customary role, traditional values, and ducked the whole thing. Not that I don’t have plenty to say about mothers in law. My dates introduced me to the moms and dads more than a […]

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BROKEN STAIRWAY? HOW TO REPLACE IT

October 15, 2020 by

My mother in law walked down a broken stairway for sixteen years. I’d replaced treads and firmed up the handrails, but we still joked about it. “An independent observer might think my son in law is trying to kill me by falling through these steps,” she laughed. “If the fall doesn’t kill you, my snake […]

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HOMESTRETCH AFTER HITTING THE FINAL CURVE HARD

September 8, 2020 by

Sports analogies don’t always work the way they’re supposed to work, but comparing a life to a race always does the trick. From the starting line, to the backstretch, to the final curve going down to the wire, it all sounds like a life well lived. The closer we are to the race, the life, […]

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ENGLISH GIRLS ON D-DAY

June 6, 2020 by

English girls and young women got engaged during WWII, some more than once. My English mother in law had been engaged several times. I asked her about it.

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WRITE A BOOK, THEY SAID, IT’LL BE FUN

January 17, 2019 by

    Long form writing is like a walk in the woods with no map. In the dark. With animal noises. And cliffs on both sides of the trail. If that isn’t a picture of adventure, what is? And all you need to do is sit down and write. And stay down. For a long […]

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SANDWICH GENERATION GRANDY MAKES THE RIGHT CALL

June 13, 2018 by

I am in a storage space in my house throwing away rings of gauze and squirt bottles of skin care and wound cleaner. It’s a throwback moment with Grandy, my mother in law who passed two years ago. If I had PTSD I would have been thrown back. Instead it was a sweet memory. But […]

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MUMMY IN LAW AT 90 YEARS OLD

February 13, 2016 by

The best part of being a Mother in Law at 90? How many times have you heard tales of woe about a Mother In Law? How much woe can there be when she knows how to handle a tricky birthday drink? What could be wrong when you roll out with this model? She’s a traveler, […]

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CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AND NURSING HOME RESCUE: HOW TO GET A ‘RELEASE’

January 14, 2016 by

It started out well, then turned into a nursing home rescue. If you’re married, chances are good you have in-laws. Maybe a mother-in-law, a father-in-law, or both. If you like one better than the other, don’t hold it against yourself. They probably like their kid better than you, so it breaks even. In long-term marriages […]

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