This week, May 6th-10th, three of my grandchildren will be graduating from three different universities, each at a different level of academic achievement: Sophie, 21, will receive her BA Degree from the Syracuse University School of Art; Lu, 22, will receive their Master’s Degree in Public Health from Temple University; and Natalie, 29, will receive her PhD in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania. Sophie, the youngest of the three grads, is the child of m

Hugo’s restaurant, LaCordonnerie, is a small family operation, and that’s the way Hugo likes it. His nephew, Jeremy, is his maître d’. His wife, Valerie, who lives with him in the flat above the store, occasionally helps out in the restaurant. They met in high school. Shortly after graduation, Valerie was severely injured in a car accident and, as a result, has long suffered from bouts of chronic depression. Hugo was there for her during her lengthy stay in the hospital, firs

My husband Richard never had any desire to go to Paris. Born of Italian heritage, his favorite travel destination was Italy. “Besides,” he told me, the French are a bit too arrogant for my taste.” Myself, having a French Canadian background and eager to practice my childhood French, I had been to Paris once with my first husband and, again, following our divorce, with my two teenage kids. I was ready to go again, but Richard was not easily convinced. Until 2002, when our very

I never saw my parents read a book. Both had left their homes in Nova Scotia to come to the states when they turned 18, and neither had gone to college. Reading a book was not something they were accustomed to doing. I remember them reading only our newspaper, The Daily News. As for me, I learned to love to read as a kid, when a cousin introduced me to Nancy Drew. After that, I read almost anything I could get my hands on. Give me a book and I was happy. But I was allowed to

I last saw my father at my 8 th grade elementary school graduation. Seaview Hospital, a TB sanitarium on Staten Island, had given him a pass just for the day. As I sat on the stage, I saw him enter the auditorium. In a brown leather jack and gray slacks, he looked healthy; he looked handsome. How he could look so good and be so sick, I wondered. After the ceremony, Dad took Mom and me out to lunch, but it was short. He had to return to the hospital by late afternoon. “Be goo

“ Are you sure you don’t have eyes in the back of your head ,” I often asked him. Carl is blind—has been since he was 14 and diagnosed...

I’ve had a headache for the past eight years. Ever since Donald Trump became president. And it won’t go away unless and until Kamala...

My husband Richard knows who he is and where he lives. He can scooter his way to the library and to the supermarket and knows how to come...

Richard and I have been married 40 years. No matter how loving a relationship, you can’t spend 40 years with a person and never let it...

85 Years Young This week I turned 85 and am celebrating with my family in Francestown, NH. Five years ago, upon turning 80, I celebrated...

When I was 60, I said, "I probably have 25 summers left. Now that I'm 85, I say, "I probably have 5 or 10 summers left."That’s how I have...

This is today’s reality for those of a certain age: Whether because of old age, dementia, or Alzheimer’s, many of us will end up having...

Last week I went out to buy a calendar planner. The one I was using was coming to the end of its 12 month year. It’s a school year...

Now they tell me! Now they say that diets don’t work. I could have told them that myself. Years ago. The New York Times recently reported...

This week I drove to Great Barrington to spend a week in the same place I’ve been renting for the past five summers—a stunning white...

God bless Mental Health Days—the days that when you have the most to do, and you feel the least able to do them. Instead of working...

Although I love to leave the city in the summer, there’s no other place I’d rather live for the rest of the year, especially now that I’m...

Peanut butter is one of my all-time favorites. Forget the jelly. I love it with sliced bananas or apples, on a matzo topped with apple...

Not only does the Upper West Side boast of the best bagels, it also proclaims the best pizza! Mama's Too, just a block away from my...

In order to make my First Holy Communion, I had had to make my first confession. Not knowing what a sin was, I asked the nuns what to...