Last week marked the first anniversary of two deaths: my friend Terry ‘s and my husband Richard’s; they died a day apart, July 6 and 7 respectively, in 2025. Last week also brought about the sudden deaths of three people I know—my best friend’s sister; my son-in-law’s brother-in-law; and my daughter’s best friend’s father. In an attempt to deal with it all, I decided to get out of town and go to my happy place. So I headed to Great Barrington for a week of R&R, or more correc

Woolworth’s, Howard Johnson’s, Kokak, Pan Am and Blockbuster. Companies that used to be, but are no more. They all went out of business. Reading a recent article online about their closures brought back many memories. For me, they just weren’t brand names, they were part of my daily life. In the mid 1940’s to mid 1950’s, Woolworth’s was my go-to store for everything. Popularly known as a “five and dime” store, I called it the five-and-ten and went there every Saturday to spen

As long as I can stay in bed in the morning as long as I wish, and as long as I can go to bed at night as early as I wish, I am content. It’s when people, younger than me but not by much, question my behavior that I get cranky. With all due respect, who are they to question what I do? Or what’s best for me? I didn’t know for myself until recently. Since I retired 10 years ago, I’ve had the good fortune of becoming a board member of my building co-op and my local Democratic Cl

As a child, I didn’t hear the word “happy” mentioned much—my father had TB and was in and out of sanitoriums, my mother cleaned houses and managed a boardinghouse, and we were on welfare —for which we were grateful, but it was not much to be happy about. When I got married at 21, I thought I was happy. Looking back, it was more mental than emotional…more like what I was supposed to feel on one’s Wedding Day. It wasn’t until much later, in my early thirties, with two kids, ear

Before Richard died last summer, I was just me. Now, almost a year later, I’m a combination of him and me. Richard no longer is alive, but he still lives in me. Not every minute of every day, but often enough for me to know that he still is a part of me. So that I could tell him that cousin Terry died the day after he did, our grandson had gotten his Phd; that Robert Redford and Diane Keaton had died; that I had a stomach virus, or how terribly angry I continue to be with Tru

Several weeks ago, as I was walking along Broadway, I met a neighborhood acquaintance, a single woman in her late sixties. I hadn’t seen her in a while and she asked how I was doing, since Richard had passed last summer. “Okay,” I told her, “it’s such a relief knowing he’s without pain.” “I don’t know how you did it,” she said. “I could never have managed caring for my father at home in his final years. It’s such an intimate experience”. “Yes, it is,” I agreed, “but it’s diff

Three of my grandchildren graduated from college in five days: On May 6, Lu (they/them/their), 22 years old, got their Master’s in Public Health from Temple University; on May 8, Natalie, 29, defended her PhD in Computer Science at the University of Pennsylvania, and on May 9, Sophie, 21, received her BA from the School of Design at Syracuse University. Graduating from Temple, Lu looked as radiant and happy as I’ve ever seen them. The graduation ceremony included a very diver

I read recently that, in 1951, there were over 28,000 reported cases of polio in the United States. By 1952, cases had climbed to over 57,000. Fortunately, the polio incidence plummeted after the Salk vaccine was introduced, falling to under 1,000 cases by 1962. Then a few years ago, in 2022, the virus resurfaced in wastewater samples in Rockland, Orange, and Nassau Counties, and New York City. I remember it all. It was the summer of 1951. I was 12. Playgrounds, b

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

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

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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...

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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...