Tina was 13 chronologically, but much worldly and wiser than her years would betray. She spoke with such authority and confidence that you would have to remind yourself that you were talking to a child who happened to be…..carrying a child.
Tina was my roommate at the home and hospital and as it turned out was more experienced than I when it came to the mysteries of motherhood. This would be her second child…..same father…..a guy who she’d accused …

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1. Learn to speak French fluently. I am studying via pimsleur cds and even use the French Coach game for my Nintendo DS. I think French is the most romantic language on earth, so I can’t wait to be able to whisper sweet french ‘somethings’ in my beloved’s ears, preferably as we cross Le pont neuf in Paris.
2. Spend a leisurely weekend in a lighthouse off the coast of Maine in the summer. It will be nice …

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Reading an account of a friend’s life struggles served to be a very powerful and personal reminder that we are in large part responsible for our own successes, failures, near-misses, joys and sometimes sadness. At the same time I believe in the existence of things that are beyond our control like fate, divine intervention and sheer bad luck. Nevertheless, I believe that we determine the where and the how we eventually end up in this life.
Strangely enough, I …

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I’ve made a pretty life changing decision. In all honesty, I’ve made such declarations before. However, this time it feels different. My life has become unmanageable in a lot of ways. I’m having surgery in a week for a meniscus tear in my knee, I have high blood pressure and who knows what unseen medical issues that may be brewing into an explosive and traumatic event in the future?
I still feel hopeful about life …

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Commuters who leave the driving to a municipal employee, usually gets the best of both worlds. Not only do they not have to contend with negotiating road hazards and reckless drivers, but they get to view their commute from a totally different angle. They get to see the world from a 180 degree perspective; a snapshot of the world through a 45 mph prism.
Life events become clearer as a passenger. You begin to take note of things …

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**Note** This is something that I wrote as an homage as to how the elderly are sometimes forgotten and disregarded. It is not about me, personally, although one day I aspire to become old and gray. Thanks for reading.
As I toil in my garden, I look for a friendly smile from passersby, hoping that they’ll take a moment from each other’s glance to notice an old lady waving hello,
But their lively conversation is too compelling for them to …

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Not everyone who came here wanted to forget the past. Some simply wanted a support system for whatever decision that they eventually made because there was nothing or no one at home to give it to them. They needed someplace to go to think about why they believed what HE said. And why they were so easily swayed to disregard the way that their mama had brought them up.
There were others who believed that they were in …

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I was six when I first learned that I was different. None of my classmates seemed to want to talk to me much or play with me during recess. I didn’t exactly understand the giggles and the pointing. My innocence made me believe that the pointing meant that they were choosing me; that I was special and being singled out to be their very best friend. I learned that I was wrong when the pointing abruptly …

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My sister- in- law’s eyes gave away the secret before she began to step back behind my brother’s broad shoulders. “Renee, mama’s gone…..” , he uttered as he watched my body involuntarily heave over. It was not entirely unexpected. Mama had been hospitalized once again for heart failure and all I could do was think about the smile that she had on her face when I last visited her. I could see her outstretched hands reaching …

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