My mother, like maybe all mothers everywhere, is a difficult woman. Maybe that’s because being a mother is difficult. Very difficult. I’m a mother now, and I wonder if my children, once they are my age, will say the same about me. But difficult or not, I do love my mother. She brought me here, didn’t she? Here to experience this wonderful and complicated experience called life. Last week, two of my friends’ mothers died. One on Monday and one on Wednesday. “They’re fall

Luddite: (modern usage) A term broadly describing anyone who dislikes, avoids or resists new technology, computers, automation, or artificial intelligence. My friend Gina likes to throw fancy dinner parties. Like grownup dinner parties. Parties where people arrive on time, dress nicely, and on the whole act civilized. At my age I should start considering myself a grownup but still, when I arrive at these dinners I always feel like I should be the one collecting coats - or p

You cannot harm me. You cannot harm One who has dreamed a dream like mine, One who has seen the buffalo in their mighty lodge And heard them say, "Arrows cannot harm you now!" Sioux/Chippewa chant sung in times of danger to invoke the protective, invincible spirit of the buffalo. After the Louisiana Purchase was signed in 1803 and during our country’s westward expansion (which lasted from 1803-1890) the Indigenous people of the Americas, or “the savages” as they were commo

It seems like everyone and their mother has a podcast these days. When I started writing this blog, several readers told me that “nobody reads anymore,” so if I wanted to share my thoughts I should do so via the spoken word, not a written blog. I chose not to follow that advice for several reasons. A. What would I talk about? B. I think I can write a piece that can hold the someone’s attention for 5 to 7 minutes max, but not an hour! (Or sometimes even longer.) C.

Because my mother is aging fast and I am her legal health care proxy I have spent a lot of time around nurses this year. And they have been amazing. Their compassion and patience, no matter how demanding the patient, astounds me. Elderly people (like all of us but maybe more so) can be very demanding. I imagine it is scary for my mother to be 91 years old. It's the end of the party for her...and she knows it. What we don't know is what happens next. When we discuss her “next

My first crush, which felt an awful lot like love, was on a Muppet. I was five years old when I first saw him in all his square-jawed yellow-tinged glory. His name was Guy Smiley and he was the most self-assured, well-dressed, manly Muppet I had ever seen. My love for him felt real and secure. He would be able to take care of me. This unrequited love affair with Guy lasted for about two years until, in second grade, I saw a photo of Roger Daltry from the rock band The Who. In