My shadow broke my toys. First day of kindergarten, about to walk out the door and get on the school bus, wearing buster brown shoes, I scowled at my sister as I gave my mother very explicit instructions, “Don’t let her touch my toys while I am at school!” Mom said, “Okay, I’ll put them […]
No More Broken Plates
One day when I was dusting the dining room of our 1879 home, a funny thought hit my heart. “Dad never stepped foot in any place I lived as an adult.” That meant he never ate in my house. I never got to think of a meal to prepare for his arrival. I never got […]
Taken Away
All four kids started to cry when the nice lady stopped her car in front of the big brick building. “Where are we?” cried Jacqueline. Her four-year-old sister Julia and brother Gene chimed, “This isn’t what the ice cream parlor looks like. Where’s the drug store?” Their little brother Johnny, two and one-half, was too […]
A Dozen Eggs
My Father’s love hurt me more than it hurt him. I don’t know what he was thinking. Well, actually, he often said, “My job is to toughen you up because life is tough out there!” I was convinced the song, A Boy Named Sue, was written for me. At least it felt that way. I’m […]
The Uninvited Thief
The thief comes to steal … he sneaks into our back yard, steps onto our back porch and breaks the window pane in our door, walks through our home as if he owns the place. Self-serving, he had the gall to walk up the stairs to our bedroom which means he had to walk through […]
Hope Will Have Its Way
Are you feeling Hopeless? Depressed? Emotional? Broken? Are the holiday blues chasing you into the New Year? Are you angry because someone refused to make the fruit pie like grandma did or someone else wanted to host at their home this year and not the traditional location? Oh my! What do we do when someone interrupts […]
Brushed By His Wing
Out of nowhere a big hawk swooped down to windshield level. He flew in front of our car, wings spread wide, as if to lead us out of the woods of Maine. We followed him, keeping up with his speed as best we could. My husband and I had been privileged to spend a few […]
Give Me Ten Dollars
A woman with a medical mask on her face approached me at night in the parking lot of Ocean State Job Lot when I was walking towards my car. I assumed we were heading in the same direction to look for our cars because her shopping cart veered towards me. I glanced her way and thought she had […]
Unspoken burden between a mother and daughter
When I was fifteen, going on sixteen, I wrote an angry two-page letter to my mother after I ran away from home. I wanted her to know how tired I was of being abused by her husband, my dad. Well, I had just been pulled down the stairs and then dragged by my hair, so like, I had had enough. Not only […]
Wounded Song…Where Are You?
Did it bore you? Have you read it yet? It has been 10-months since my book launch…how has it affected you? Did you read part of it, or all of it? Did you pick it up and put it down? Not sure if you liked the topic? Or perhaps, you were afraid it might tap […]