It’s no surprise that I was 32 when I married. Frankly, I’m amazed I was that young because my mom had a way of winnowing out the weaker prospects pretty quickly. Any suitor who visited had to be warned about her because her childlike frankness left people stunned. To protect myself, I sat at the table with her, laughing too loud so whomever she was talking to knew…
Just as a woman is watching her face shrivel up like the faces in those paintings in the haunted house at Disneyland, a cruel irony of life surfaces. She sees her daughter burst into full bloom in front of her; probably as beautiful as she’ll ever be. It’s like roses on a rosebush. The mom is the one that’s left with just a knob and some straw-like hairs…
I’ve always thought that one day I’d do something that would make me exceptional. But I’m 59 years old and am not exceptional yet, so things aren’t looking terribly promising.…
If you’re in a state that’s not Florida, California or Hawaii right now, you’re probably dreaming of spring. I live in California and I apologize up front. It just happened this way, I didn’t really plan it, so don’t hate me. I never gloat over the weather because I could be killed at any second by a terrifying mother of an earthquake. That pretty much evens things out…
Since this is flu season and you’re probably suffering through a pretty crappy winter, I wanted to post my mom’s chicken soup recipe. If you’re sick and miserable, at least you’ll be sick, miserable and well fed. But I can’t give you this recipe without the story that goes with it about my mom. (As you may have guessed, I have many stories about mom, so stick around.)…
These were the names on my street in New Brighton, Pennsylvania when I was growing up: Pfeiffer, Schaeffer, Smeltzer, Pfleghar, Anderson, Golbertson, Tunno. It’s like those second grade quizzes where you pick the one that doesn’t fit. The 50’s and 60’s were not the diversity-loving present. I was born only 10 years after WWII ended, and back then things like internment camps were a reality. My parents wanted…