I woke up one day this week and thought “this is so damned hard.” And I actually chose this path! Lots of choices aren’t mine—the frustration of asthma attacks, the grief from losing my stepmom that stirs up the grief of my brother dying, a family member turning from sobriety after years. Profound sadnesses with […]
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OWC Endings and Beginnings, Happy and Sad…
I graduated! As thrilled as I am to say that I’m now the proud owner of a Certificate in Novel Writing from the Stanford online writing program, more than any other graduation in my life I’ve much sadness, too. My fellow cohort members are remarkable artists, friends, supporters. These few dozen women (and Roy!) cheered […]
Yip, yip, yip, hoorah. Choice and such.
The downstairs neighbor quit her law practice because the two little ones couldn’t be without her (her words), over-coddled into an anxiety disorder (my diagnosis), so now I walk up the stairs past them when she dare go out and hear Yip!YIP!YIP!, close my door YIP!YIP!, cough YIP!YIP!, car drives by YIP!YIP!, any tiny noise […]
But what is it REALLY like to live here? The Stanford Cult
For weeks and months I lay in bed at night trying to imagine what Life would be like in Cali (oh! see how I’ve picked up the local lingo?!) I pictured hours at my writing desk alone—David working long days at his first new job apart from each other in 25 years—with a mixture […]
Can I go home now?
You know when you’re on Day 7 or 10 of vacation, the thrill of the hotel room worn off, a little too much sun and fun, just wanting your morning bowl of cheerios with a banana (instead of yet another buffet) and yearning for your bed, your pillow, your stuff, instead of the rabbit hutch […]
Constant Clutter, OY!
Moving is all about finding new places to put your sh*t. And those places might not yet exist if you sell most of your furniture but not all the contents thereof. Am I really so locked into “everything in it’s place”-Donna Reed-middle-aged-menopausal-rigidity??? Instead of a panic attack that spurred me to solutions, the […]
Land HO! Palo Alto!
This very morning, Wed 7/29, we sighted port and let down anchor. (Alright, quite the tortured metaphor, sorry! Especially to these drought-stricken Californians…) It’s 11:15pm here, I’ve now settled in after 12 straight hours of way-too-old-for-this unpacking in unusually HOT weather. Hey, wait a minute! Isn’t this supposed to be 70’s all year round?? Thank […]
Tourists Galore: why New Orleans worked better than San Antonio Texas
So, imagine a Sunday morning in a smallish-big city, streets waking up: a few cars, a lot of homeless down that one particular street—oops! wrong turn, lights cycling green-yellow-red to no one waiting, maybe even a church bell ringing from the next street over. On street parking is ample. Step out of the car into […]
What do LBJ in Texas and Georgia O’Keeffe have in common?
So San Antonio was the hottest yet, over 100 degrees and I wilted like a Southern belle (but with more whining, sorry honey!) The Riverwalk (still getting those pictures ready…stay tuned) in the city was wonderful and hot, beautiful and hot, hot and hot. When planning the trip, David casually mentioned that we could detour […]
Gail Ansel 