Gluing It Back Together

I drove out to the nursing home listening to Barry Manilow, lending some theatricality to what was probably a false alarm. My parents often played a Barry Manilow record when I was in preschool. So it isn’t my fault. I was listening to “This One’s For You,” which has a bold, swelling orchesteral sky, and […]

Yellow Brick Road

Partly because my parents divorced, I had Emerald City dreams. I wanted the shiniest brightest marriage and the glowingest cheerfulest children and possibly a horse that changed colors, since we would be living there in the fabulous 21st century. I set out from my Kansas (which, coincidentally, was actually Kansas)– exploring, meeting people. For all […]

On The Eve

Christmas Eve morning, before the celebrating begins, I stop at my usual coffee place. My car is stuffed with boxes of wrapped presents, the ribbons only slightly frayed from the sniper attacks of my cats. There is wine in the car. There are flannel pajamas and opal earrings and a shimmery skirt for church. Sometimes […]

Into the Archives

A couple of weeks ago, my sister showed up at my door with a powder blue file cabinet. She was tearing through my mother’s basement in a fit of productivity, and my file cabinet was an easy mark for eviction. I hadn’t added anything to this particular archive in at least 15 years. There were […]