This is a picture of my 5th grade class at PS 69 in Jackson Heights, Queens. I am in the first row, fourth from the right. That year I...

Recently 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...

Who knew I had something in common with Anderson Cooper and Steven Colbert? Turns out both their dads died young, just like mine, when...

I first started writing my childhood memoir in a high school writing class. It wasn’t until 57 years later that I continued writing it in...

“Can we talk?” I asked my husband Richard. “Shu-err,” he said, dragging out the word to two syllables, meaning he’s not so sure he’s...

I never agreed to be 80. Never. When I said so to my daughter, she answered: “What’s the big deal? It’s only a number.” “Easy for you to...

In the bible, black is associated with mourning and death. Christian monks adopted black robes as signs of humility. In the 14th century,...

When I was five, I made a Christmas tree ornament in kindergarten. A small mitten, made of red crepe paper, with tiny silver stars glued...

I spend more time in my bedroom than in any other room in my apartment. It has my bed, my desk, my TV, my books, my reading chair and a...

Now that I’m in my mid-eighties, there are certain things I won’t do again. Because (1) my body can no longer exert itself the way it...

As Donna Leon, prolific author of the Detective Brunetti series, writes in her recent memoir, Wandering Through Life: “I knelt down to...

You served me well For forty years But we must split And I’m in tears. We first met in my early forties. We were introduced by mutual...

1.House Rules 2.The Boarding House 3.First Friends 4.Mamere 5.JohnJoe Heading this section is a picture of me in the backyard of the...

6.Piano Lessons 7.Miss Mellick 8.My Uncle Mike 9.Aunt Sophie Heading this section is a picture of Uncle Mike and Aunt Sophie. She was my...

10.Frannie and Joe 11.Uncle Charlie 12.My Mother's Nerves Heading this section is a photo of my mom, dad, Aunt Sophie and two male...

13.Cousin Jessie 14.Cousin Jessie Redux 15.Phyllis and Nancy This photo is (L-R) Jackie (Jessie's friend) ; cousin Sonny (Jessie's...

16. Blackouts in the City 17. Air Raid Drills 18. Small Secrets 19. Childhood Foods 20. The Confessional 16. Blackouts in the City It was...

21.Dorie and Hildy I’ve been a bridesmaid thrice in my life. Once, in my twenties, for a close friend I’d known since high school, but...

28.The House on Pleasant Pond Written in 2016 For over 30 years, Richard and I had dreamed of renting a house on an island. In that time,...