Our Token Holiday Decorations The winter holiday season used to be an exciting time of the year for me, filled with festive parties and happy social gatherings with my family and friends. I remember the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg. The delighted sounds of my children’s…
Three piles: One pile of stuff we think our kids would love to have. One pile of things we think we can sell. And the little pile of things we’ll take with us to our new small townhouse in Eugene. Ed and I are downsizing. It’s too much work to…
(He gave me permission to write this.) I married Ed almost a quarter of a century ago. I married him, knowing there were things about him that would always bother me. Like that he wasn’t into international travel (I love to travel). His only experiences outside…
I’m back in Paraguay, the land of my childhood. I first came here as a baby many years ago, when my parents founded a leprosy station that I called home. Alone, I make my way along a dirt road toward our house, a red and…
I’m driving along I-5, heading north toward Portland. My two adorable grandsons, 7 and 10, are fighting over something in the backseat of the car. “Please keep your hands to yourselves,” I tell them. The next thing I know water bottles are flying around my head. I see blood in…
In the early decades of my life, I believed older people must envy my youth. My smooth skin. My strong muscles. My abundant energy. My dreams. Call it the hubris of young ignorance, but I was sure the best part of life had to…