Who needs fireworks?  The universe provides plenty. Nearly every tragic event of my life happened on July 4th weekend—the deaths of both of my parents, my divorce, and my diagnosis of breast cancer. Every year I would approach July 4 like an upcoming nuclear event…. I would hunker down at home hopefully keeping loved ones [...]

Me and July 4th.  If you don’t know what I mean, read my last post.   Or read this one. Every year– just getting through the day, I feel as if I dodged a bullet. This year the bullet struck just as the clock struck. July 4th had barely dawned.  It was the middle of the [...]

What happened to Mom and apple pie? Suddenly mommies are the bad guys….. if you saw the  front page of the New York Times Style section today, which used this graphic for a piece about mommy bloggers. If you’re clueless about mommy bloggers, the title spells it out: Honey, Don’t Bother Mommy.  I’m too Busy [...]

Though it’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind,  I think this is V’s least favorite thing about me:  not only being indecisive, but also revisiting decisions I already supposedly made.  ( Somehow this isn’t a problem when it comes to making decisions for everyone else–that’s easy.) And now my indecisiveness can extend into cyberspace:  [...]

Do they still call the roll in classrooms?    I feel as if I need a note from home to explain why I’ve been absent.  I was that kind of kid.    I never skipped school either.  I didn’t turn into that kind of adult.   But inside me is still that girl who likes to do it right.    So I [...]