Only a few more days left in November. A few more days to remind people about the two cancers that took my beloved husband in 2008 and my dear mother in 2010. My relationship with cancer has always been as a bystander. I watch a relative or friend grapple with imposed changes the disease brings….
Category: Reflections
Junior Mechanic: Some Hands-On Engineering
I knew how to change a car’s oil before I knew how to change gears. When I was 14 years old, my dad came to me: “Anne, you’re going to be learning to drive in a couple of years. Time for you to learn about how a car works.” He had an ulterior motive–he needed…
Tapestry Holes Never Completely Close
We live, we love, and then our loved ones die. The pain of grief comes and creates a hole in our life’s tapestry. Carole King so aptly sings about life’s journey in “Tapestry,” which begins with: “My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue; An everlasting vision of the ever-changing view. A…
Learning to Sew
Mom gave up her sewing room when my brother turned one. In that room, she had sewn each of her daughters a first communion dress; I recall mine—blue with cap sleeves. With her Singer sewing machine she carefully sewed Halloween costumes and tended to the basket of mending. While I don’t recall when she taught…
Starry Night at the Beach
Fall camping at the beach provided me a moment of feeling awestruck. My family traveled the Delaware shore more times in September and October than July and August. The water was actually warmer, the waves more interesting to jump and the crowds were non-existent. On one side of the road- the beach and the Jetty;…
Adult Birthday Rituals
Last week I celebrated another year on the planet. As an adult I don’t always have a birthday party like I did as a child. It depends upon my mood, number of years old, serendipity of fun events on my birthday. This year, on 10 September, I held a party to celebrate my birthday and…
What Widows Wear
My last landlord in Pittsburgh was an Italian woman. My Dad met her and he took notice of her black attire and gold cross. Afterwards he shared that she reminded him of his neighborhood in Brooklyn, which had a large Italian population. He noted “They wore black for a long time after someone died.” At…
Our Fifty-Plus Year-Old Dishwasher
By the third child my parents invested in a portable dishwasher. In the mid 1960’s, these time-saving appliances had begun to become more popular with households, though not all newly built houses had dishwashers. Hence, the first house my parents bought did not have a dishwasher. As I began attending elementary school in Northport, NY,…
Sing at Mass, Even if Off-Key
While on vacation at Deep Creek Lake together, my family and I attended Mass that Sunday morning at the local church as our week together began. Arriving just in time, we found seats in the front row that placed us just in front of the singers. Three people made up the music ministry–and one of…
Introductions—Caught in a Pattern
For the Fourth of July holiday in 1985, I drove down the highway from Dutchess County, New York to be with my family in Maryland. We had continued our routine of attending the National Symphony concert held on the Capitol Hill Lawn. Picnic-style, we would eat and then listen to the music. Maureen O’Reilly and…