The (Snowy) Road to Taos
“Travel not to find yourself but to remember who you’ve been all along.” — as seen on a plaque yesterday in a home decor store In November, Hillary … Read more
grief
Seven Years
“Seven Years in Tibet,” “The Seven Year Itch,” seven chakras, the seven-year Shemitah cycle, there is a lot tied to this particular number of years. Today marks the seventh anniversary of Marcus’s death. That day. That phone call. That searing pain of a broken heart so shattered I wanted to crawl out of my skin. … Read more
World Piece: The Homecoming…But Where is Home?
Goodbye, Frankfurt! My very last stop on my World Piece itinerary was Frankfurt, Germany. This was where my flight would take off for Los Angeles. LA was the place where I started, the place where three months earlier I said a tearful goodbye to my parents as they waved to me from the other side … Read more
Planning, Packing and Paring Down: Does It Spark Joy?
I leave on my round-the-world trip one month from today (though it really begins in just 2-½ weeks with my drive to Iowa to drop off my dog Jack at “summer camp.”) I am excited, yes, but I am also bogged down in planning and packing. And neither of those things are the most enjoyable … Read more
World Piece: Soundtrack for a Round-the-World Journey
Preparing for a trip around the world requires a little planning. Okay, a lot of planning. And I don’t love planning. I’m more the type to just wing it. I usually get on a plane without ever having glanced at a guidebook and trust that I’ll find my way. In all my years of traveling … Read more
The Shoes of Palos Verdes
Is this Hawaii? No, it’s Palos Verdes (California). My new neighborhood. I read an essay about 15 years ago titled “The Shoes of Kilimanjaro” by Cameron Burns. In the story he describes his climb up the towering volcano in Tanzania and how he felt bad for the guides whom he assumed were so poor they … Read more
Finding Solace in Solitaire
I’ve never been a fan of card games. It’s just not my thing to sit at a table and dole out little rectangular pieces of coated paper with numbers and symbols and faces of royalty printed on them. It seems pointless, a waste of precious time that could be—should be—spent doing something productive, like exercising … Read more
A Letter to my Friend Sue McGuiness Wall (1962 – 2012)
Sue and her daughters with their piping hot apple pies.American Gothic House, August, 11, 2011 Dear Sue, I just got back from your funeral. It was a full house at the Catholic church you attended. You were attending today alright. Just not in the way you would have liked. You would have approved of the … Read more
Starting the Year with an Empty Box
Instead of making New Year’s resolutions, I decided to tackle a few projects — the ones I’ve had on my To Do list for way too long — and get them done BEFORE the New Year. One of the big ones was emptying my “Box From Hell.” This was a cardboard box that contained the … Read more
Grief: A Progress Report
Eldon, Iowa’s McHaffey Opera House Thrift Store transforms into a magical “Winter Wanderland” at Christmas —but what did they do with all of Marcus’ clothes? With the holidays here again (my, how fast a year goes by!) and H gone for good, I’ve been experiencing a collision of past and present. As I try to make sense … Read more