Freedom and Goldenrod

A month ago, I wrote about atonement, asking my daughter Jessica to go for a walk and making amends. That conversation, rescheduled due to Jessica’s sick cat and other obligations, happened this past weekend. In between, on her recommendation, I read my daughter’s...

Atonement

When I lived in Baltimore, my neighborhood book club read Ian McEwan’s Atonement. A few years later, I saw the movie. Ah, if only I could write with McEwan’s fine precision and capture the film’s brilliant cinematographic scenes. But there was a problem: I hated the...

Coincidence

Last week in my class at the Writer’s Center, I read a selection from the middle of my book. As usual, I received very helpful comments and suggestions ranging from conceptual to craft. Perhaps because the story I told had to do with the twenty-year span involving my...

Sudden Showers

Have you ever been driving along in a rain shower, which suddenly turns into a blinding, thundering downpour? It’s not as if you didn’t see the storm coming. There had been plenty of warning. Looking out your bedroom windows while getting dressed for dinner, clouds...

Nostalgia

Last week, I spent time with my mother, helping her sort clothes, pictures and other items in her home of almost 60 years, the home where she raised her children and hosted her grandchildren, and now the home she is leaving. It is time for another young family to...

Commencement Part II

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, economist Charles Wheelan wrote about the things that he wished his commencement speaker had told him. Number 7 on the list of 10: “Your parents don’t want what is best for you.” Huh? You mean that after doing my best to...