The Thing About November..

Published in The Ferndale Record-Journal, November 11, 2009
I like November.
I like the flashy leaves, the wind, the cooler, bordering on cold weather. I like a late World Series, Thanksgiving, pecan pie, and the promise of December’s holidays.
But the real reason I’ve always liked November is because it’s my birthday month.  I get a little goofy [...]

The Bizarre, Beautiful Mix That Is Family

Published in The Ferndale Record-Journal, September 23, 2009
Not long ago, on a small stretch of beach along the central Oregon coast, I gathered with the people that have known me the longest.
For a couple of days we caught up with the old and plunged into the new. We welcomed family members we’d never seen before, [...]

Livin’ The Dream

My friend Dave is making it work. He talked about it for a long time, figured out his niche, scraped like mad, and then it happened–His first movie trailer.
Karen’s family left the nest. She worried about money and what would come next. I asked her what she wanted to do. “Um, maybe get [...]

Childhood Lost

Oh.. that face I love. It still gets me—every time. All those years locked behind the blue eyes and long lashes. Years I can see and remember. Years that he wishes I would forget. But I can’t. I can’t. And that’s why it hurts.. because I have to let [...]

Monday Gravy: AA Comes Home

My first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting was Saturday night.
Beloved daughter was celebrating two years of sobriety and asked Mommy to come to the party.  I was thrilled.
Whoa. It was a room full of tangible love. I’ve never experienced anything quite like it. Hugs all around.. genuine support.. people of varied backgrounds. I saw quickly there was [...]

Every Ten Years

Age 4: Adored by my older siblings, drama queen, Daddy’s girl, hate having my hair washed.
Age 14: Massive crush on Omar Sharif, have seen Dr. Zhivago in the theater 11 times, hate that my mom makes me cut my long hair, get braces, take a trip to California, Nevada and Utah with my [...]

Mama Love

This week I said goodbye to my son who is going to teach English in Austria for a year. It’s a dream job in a place he loves and in his world, things are pretty great right now.
I am thrilled he gets this opportunity.. I really am. It’s just that… um.. (insert [...]

Waxing: The Facial Frontier

Not long ago, thanks to a salon visit, my face, except for eyelashes and eyebrows, was devoid of hair. It was as smooth as butter. I felt beautiful, desirable and 29 years old again–for about 47 minutes. That’s when those little nibs of hair started to grow back. 47 MINUTES! [...]

Razed Expectations

This is a tough one.
Handling five young children and all their activities? A cakewalk. Having a husband who traveled and was busy whenever he was home? A day at the beach. Having a baby at age 39? No sweat. Living through a divorce? Bad, but not as bad as this.
I read once that whenever your [...]

The Edge

No.. not the guy from U2.    Rather.. the edge.. as in.. “going over the”
It’s what I experience when things are out of balance. Here’s the rub: I think I know my way away from it, but I don’t seem to ever quite make it far enough back into the middle to make things [...]