Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Category: Aging in Abundance
Surrender
This morning in the kitchen, just minutes after waking up, I burst into a belly laugh so earthy and so wild that it made me glad to be alive in this moment even with all the terrible trouble and hand wringing because a four… Continue Reading “Surrender”
The Perfect Spiral is a Thing of Beauty
Two teenage Jewish girls are playing catch with a football in the middle of our street. They are early teens, maybe thirteen or fourteen, and, of course, they are wearing skirts because their family is Orthodox as are all the Jewish families on our… Continue Reading “The Perfect Spiral is a Thing of Beauty”
It’s Usually Right in Front of Us
I don’t do a lot of interpretive dance anymore but occasionally I take a picture that could generate some earnest group discussion. If this picture of dear Tempest ready to lead her human down a sunny trail doesn’t speak to you in some way,… Continue Reading “It’s Usually Right in Front of Us”
Ten Little Mysteries Lined Up in a Row
There are so many unsolved mysteries in my little life. How cats know to use a litter box. How my dad could make a living playing in dance bands without knowing how to read music. Why my sister-in-law ratted me out about smoking marijuana… Continue Reading “Ten Little Mysteries Lined Up in a Row”
Living in the Death Wish
I can tell you the exact moment. It is August, late afternoon. The sun is shining but it’s heading to the horizon. After an afternoon of rolling waves, Lake Superior has evened out. The water is blue, the bluest blue, so blue that the… Continue Reading “Living in the Death Wish”
Brevity is Beautiful
My answer to the question is yes. Love is a place. Yes is a world. Two lines from a very short poem by E. E. Cummings. The words are engraved on the underside of the silver bracelet I wear almost every day. I would… Continue Reading “Brevity is Beautiful”
Truck Life in the Big City
My friend opened the truck door, looked up at me and said, “How do you drive such a big vehicle?” And I paused for a long minute and then said, with a perfectly straight face, “I’m tough.” Then I told her that there is… Continue Reading “Truck Life in the Big City”
Selling What Doesn’t Matter Anymore
Two older women get together for coffee. It’s a business meeting but the two women have known each other for a long time, probably more than thirty years, so they are friends in a way, business friends at least. They have memories of time… Continue Reading “Selling What Doesn’t Matter Anymore”
The Sweet Life of Trash Picking
It’s a sign of something that I want to start keeping garbage bags and disposable gloves in my car so I can swerve over to the side of the road and pick up trash whenever the spirit moves me. It seems like a very… Continue Reading “The Sweet Life of Trash Picking”
Where’s the Money When you Need It?
I wish I’d come up with the scratch to buy the land adjacent to our cabin on Lake Superior, so someone wasn’t able to build an enormous, earth-scarring monstrosity next door. I say ‘next door’ hesitantly as it implies neighborliness, as in, let’s go… Continue Reading “Where’s the Money When you Need It?”
Snow Door | wisconsinacademy.org
Listen to Jan read her essay “Billy” presented on WUWM’s Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “At the Breakfast Bar” on WUWM Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “The Parish Hall,” on WUWM Lake Effect
“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
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