FaceTime, phone calls and videos exchanged cannot replace in-person chats and hugs, especially when the recipients are grandchildren. I miss chasing eighteen-month-old Auggie around the house, or cuddling with Sloane to “watch something”, or exploring the million why’s of Finn. I miss my grown children, family and friends whom I value deeply. Homecoming, I know, […]
“No guarantee about this RV park,” Ric said as we pulled off the highway and entered the spaghetti bowl of roadways into San Antonio. Bit by bit we moved off the main thoroughfares onto city streets, and as we did the landscape changed drastically. Abandoned buildings with overgrown lots popped up between commercial and industrial […]
The ‘misspent’ years of my youth were dedicated to sneaking into blues bars, underage, to catch the soulful music of Muddy Waters, Downchild Blues Band, and even B.B. King himself. I was hooked on blues, so the thought of visiting Memphis thrilled me. Beale Street was top of my list of ‘must sees’. To kick […]
“Is there a good place to eat around here? And how about a grocery store?” “Just up the road is the town. There is one Bar-b-que place, but it will be closed up by now – they sell out fast.” It was 3:00 p.m. “How about Mexican?” “There are five Mexican restaurants, three that are […]
“Don’t you get scared?” Yes and no, I think. Many things frighten me: a decline in my health, the loss of my spouse, something happening to one of my family members while I’m so far away from home. This is not what my mother is referring to, though. At 90, her view of the States […]
The English language is full of expressions that have more than one application. To back up – along with its many forms – is one of them. For example, as in my last post, backed up is a euphemism for excrement that is not following the protocols of natural processing – or in our case, […]
Let’s spend the night in a Walmart parking lot, are not words I’d ever thought I’d hear in my lifetime, but here my husband was suggesting it with all the enthusiasm of a twelve-year-old boy. “Really?” But why? We were en route from our last RV park and had a reservation at the next stop. […]
“I’d like to be on the road by 10:00 am,” Ric told me the night before our five and half month stay at the beach trailer park ended. “There are high wind warnings for tomorrow afternoon, so we should be at our destination before they hit.” I had pushed myself the night before to get […]
Gone are the wooden window valances draped in heavy material of sage green and burnt orange. Gone are the matching upholstered dining chairs and the butterfly table. Gone is the small J-couch that once blocked the large picture windows on the passenger’s side of the coach. We are renovating. Since July 31st, we have been […]
“How do you feel about everything that is happening?” my therapist asked me, last visit. “Good,” I responded, without hesitation. “I feel as if I’m breaking down barriers: embracing life and possibility, despite my illness.” Yesterday, I promised to rest, but there were boxes in the way, and nowhere to sit, so I unpacked one, […]