Labor Day Braid
Before being eligible for working papers at age 16, I did extra chores for cash, and I babysat. I didn’t always enjoy babysitting but knew that parents needed time together and was happy to earn 50 cents an hour. After the children were safely tucked in bed, I’d...
Blue Moons
Once in a blue moon happened last week, something seldom, rare, occurring almost never or not at all. Well, not exactly. Actually, blue moons happen relatively often. A blue moon is either the second of two full moons in a calendar month or the third of four full...
All’s Well That Ends Well
This past weekend, Keith and I attended a performance of Shakespeare’s comedy – or was it a tragedy? Most likely, the plot derived from Boccaccio’s Decameron and the title from an expression already common at the time. But what does all’s well that ends well really...
Distractions
“With a new awareness, both painful and humorous, I begin to understand why the saints were rarely married women. I am convinced it has nothing inherently to do, as I once supposed, with chastity or children. It has to do primarily with distractions. The bearing,...
Dancing with Bats
You’re taking a shower in your townhouse in Alexandria, Virginia. It is a few years ago, but the memory remains vivid. With your freshly clean wet hair wrapped in a towel, you open the bathroom door and behold a dark brown bat with eight-inch wingspan heading your...