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Valentine, you can have it all. Just not at the same time....

Another Valentine’s Day rolls around. Isn’t it crazy to think that this time last year few of us had an inkling of the nefarious Corona virus, much less the tectonic disruption it would cause? A strange silver-ish lining has been extra (virtual) closeness and communication with my family and friends. We say that we see more of each other on our weekly zoom calls than we did in the before-times. Although Joyce Carol Oates said today that there...

New Year's Eve 2020

Me: Where are you going?

Them: Out to dinner?

Me: What are you talking about?

Them: Well, it’s New Year’s Eve

Me: Umm, what’s your point?

Them (kinda whining/pleading): But we always go out. We’ve been inside since...

Sallie Ann

Today is Sallie’s birthday. She was a Scorpio and loved telling you that. She was glamorous and funny and generous. We met when I was a freshman and she was a sophomore in the drama department at Catholic University. She was a close friend of my high school friend, Ellen, also at CU, also a Scorpio, so I had standing, knowing two upper-class women of status. She had a gorgeous deep voice, satiny blonde hair, great...

Our father's day

My father didn’t know his father. He had two stepfathers, one of whom was the lovely, patient guy we called Grandpa. Dad went to a small school in Pearl River with only a handful of children; later he went to Park Ridge High. His best friend there was a boy named Wiley Bell and we still have their yearbook in our family home. As I recall, Wiley wrote something really sweet next to Dad’s picture. They were lifeguards together, too, at a lake....

"I have something sad to tell you..."

My mother sat on the side of my bed. All my life when she woke me up she’d just call my name a few times, in a low tone of voice. That morning she didn’t. I guess she thought that I’d feel her presence. It was sunny out; I’d only been home from college for a few days, looking forward to summertime. It was our beloved aunt Pat’s birthday and the day before my little brother was to turn five. We were hoping — hoping — to go to Turtle Back Zoo...

Love, Dad

Today is my father’s 101st birthday. He used to say that he wished to live to be at least 100. Could have been those unfiltered Chesterfields that stood in the way. But, his mother lived to be 100 years and 11 months old and received the centenary congratulatory letter from President Reagan. Astonishing to think, but Dad was born during the deadly flu pandemic that lasted about 15 months from spring 1918 to early summer 1919.

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Go in peace

Another somber aspect of our current condition is the inability to mourn the death of a dear one or pay respects. Together. In person. Life’s constants everywhere on earth include gathering to remember our loved ones, comfort each other, and then reflect. It’s a universal activity of humankind.

There is extremely upsetting news about ER nurses and doctors saying farewell to dying patients by proxy because...

With all his heart

Today is Good Friday in the year of COVID-19. When I was growing up, our Catholic school was closed on Good Friday and we stayed indoors with each other. We had to be quiet from noon to 3pm, the hours during which Jesus suffered and died. It was a somber day and our household took it very seriously. The sense memory of those ritual days with my mother and father and siblings has stayed with me throughout my life, and...

"I just want you to know I can see through your masks..."

So in my family we write either haiku or limericks for holidays or special occasions, I really can’t remember why. The tom-toms are beating over the past couple days, maybe to calm ourselves as the world’s anxiety grows about COVID-19 or about Easter approaching, which we’ll experience virtually. Literally, virtually. Here’s one from Molly:

there once was a bug named Corona
it rhymed with a girl named...

March Away

It’s the last day of March, 2020 and it’s hard to believe what’s happened since the first day, when we celebrated our friend Fran’s Leap Year birthday in Bucks County and watched the unfolding news about a mystery virus in Italy. My flight home from a late February trip was canceled so I was dealing with my flight insurance refund. United was more than gracious, sorry for my inconvenience and even deposited 10,000 miles into my account for...