Lunch with my girlfriends is never dull. Whichever group gathers for a bowl of pho or a sashimi lunch (salad and miso soup included), there are always things - big, thought provoking things - to talk about. There are little things, too, but it's those big things that we all take home with us and think more about, later on. Returning to Long Beach from Bellevue for the first … [Read more...]
Making Room for My Young Adults
Previously published on Purple Clover Young adults still need their parents. Those of us with 20-something children know this to be true. Some need us more, some need us far less than we'd like them to, but sooner or later, they will come to us—their older and wiser parents—with a problem too complicated or painful or expensive or dangerous to manage on their own. As has … [Read more...]
When Something Happens
You know that old Yiddish expression that translated means "Man plans, God laughs?" Well God ha ha ha'd at us big time. I mean, really, really big. A few years ago, my husband and I decided to downsize from our family home, where we had raised our children and lived for 24 years, to a cozy little beach house where we could hear the surf rolling in at night and walk 3 … [Read more...]
My New Year’s Resolutions for 2018
I am pleased to have my new year's resolutions up on Purple Clover, a great website for those of us in midlife and beyond. Please click the link at the bottom of this page to continue reading about what I resolve to do - and not do - in 2018. I'm certain one or more of these will resonate with you! Best wishes to my subscribers and readers and your families for a wonderful, … [Read more...]
Living By the Book
The notebooks sit on a shelf in my office, mocking me. They are brightly colored – orange, turquoise blue, red – and they are, for the most part, empty. I bought each of them in a moment of weakness, after seeing the words “bullet journal” or “daily schedule” or “personal record.” I saw ads for pages filled with sweetly drawn words of encouragement, carefully rendered in … [Read more...]