Memory Grooves

“When I told the book club that I was going back to work, they hit the roof,” Mother said as her hands leaped into the air. “Then one-by-one, the women all went back to work. It was the best thing I ever did. I would have wasted those years.” Today is my mother’s 92nd...

Quiet Zones

Here at Vanaprastha, things are pretty quiet – literally. Vehicles traversing the mountain road and planes flying at high altitude interrupt nature’s symphony only briefly. Around our house, the geothermal HVAC system and modern appliances emit inaudible hums. Last...

Experience

“Carole, this is your Uncle.” “Uncle George, what a wonderful surprise! How are you?” Last August, I mentioned Uncle George, and again in early March of this year after a bicycle accident landed him in ICU. He spent five weeks in the hospital followed by a few weeks...

Enemies

It is a chilly Halloween night in Connecticut, and Paul McCartney sings “Yesterday” on my transistor radio. We neighborhood kids walk the dark rural roads holding flashlights for the younger trick-or-treaters like my sister. At ten going on eleven, she doesn’t need my...