Saturday morning, looking for shorts to wear to the high school track where I’ve been rehabbing, my hip, not the track, I come across the tennis skirt I bought last July at the Sports Authority Final Clearance Sale. The tag is still on it. Smiling, I get it out of the closet and step into its crisp, white, pleated perfection, pulling it up over my spider-veined legs with a darling new tattoo at the top—a five inch scar on my right butt cheek. Skirt is cheeky, tad bit … [Read more...]
From London With Love
July 24, 2014 By
I had never seen this particular photo of my brother Garrett until it arrived via Gmail last week, a trans-Atlantic bullet train back to the summer of 69. “I was looking through albums and boxes of photos last week and came across Gary's picture from all those decades ago. I started thinking of him again – as I have from time to time...” Forty-five years later a lady in London had Garrett on her mind. So she Googled him. Don’t we all? Whether … [Read more...]
Can’t Put Lipstick on This Pig
July 17, 2014 By
A recent analysis by Wired Magazine of the online dating sites, Match.com and OkCupid revealed that men who use the pronoun “whom” in their profiles have a 31% higher response rate. Indeed. Let it not be said that online love seekers are not discriminating when it comes to proper pronoun use. In my experience, such grammarians have been more scarce than hen’s teeth. On a related note, the same survey said the profile pics that garner the most inquiries are the ones in … [Read more...]
What Are You Willing to Risk?
June 20, 2014 By
A friend of mine turned 64 this week, said he played the Beatles “Birthday” song in celebration. Cranked it. Probably danced with his baby girl on his hip. He’s a new daddy. Yep, 64 with a six-month-old daughter, his first child. Life is full and good, albeit not exactly what he’d planned, heading into retirement. Oh well. All of this abundance started with him taking a chance. He risked rejection, humiliation, even heartache, just to speak to the cute salesclerk at the … [Read more...]
Zen Dentistry and Other Acts of Courage
May 16, 2014 By
So, I was talking to my shrink yesterday. We determined that I had not seen him since 2009, as he was in his former location, not as fancy as his new place. Must be a high demand for therapists these days. I understand from whence this comes, being a card carrying member of the Highly-Functioning Merely Neurotic Club. Even we need an occasional tune-up on the couch. I did not lay down. I did lay out what I called the churn. The dreaded … [Read more...]
Three Little Words
March 31, 2014 By
He had no idea the maelstrom of emotion that would blow in behind one short, declarative sentence. On a day when I was supposed to get a make over at the Clinique counter, with a particular interest in the “Dark Circle Corrector” and a new, natural look, which for me is code for “get out of the 80s”, but I cancelled due to too many competing demands for my squeezed-into-two-precious-days life now, I went to the gym instead. The gym was just one entry on my unrealistic … [Read more...]
In Observance of National Poetry Month
April 11, 2013 By
Sometimes I indulge in a little free verse. Sometimes I indulge in bars and shout "Free Bird!" Anyway, hope you like it. Desert Inn Lovers, like impressions in clay leave behind their sweetness. Blue eyes, brown, this one, that,a lifetime. How many kisses in the dark?Adoring, no hesitation, only love. I welcomed you like the sunpouring over me, a golden glazenever hardening. Wraps round me now, a whiskey spun cocoon,mere memories.No regret. I breathe. I live. I … [Read more...]
No Ruts In Our Shoulders
January 14, 2013 By
My friend and I were laughing smugly the other night about being Kate Hudson-like when it comes to our endowment -- modest. That's okay with us, less gravitational pull you know and no disfigurement from overburdened bra straps. Then I read a comment this morning from Sioux, a reader who had commented on my Death By Girdle post. It reminded me of something I wrote three years ago, about the unblinking truth of the YMCA locker room, which seems particularly prescient … [Read more...]
Just One Minute of Real Love
February 13, 2012 By
I’m a hypocrite. From shabby motel rooms, made less lonely by my dog on the bed, from Toledo to San Luis Obisbo, last summer I waxed poetic about the wonder, the glory and the healing tide of love. But I never waded into the topic of the kind of love which opens your every pore by the mere thought of the object du jour of your desire. It’s because I’m a hypocrite and a chicken. I drove nearly 9,000 miles, just me and a big yeller’ dog, who neither drives nor changes … [Read more...]
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