Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Category: Marriage, Family, Dogs, and Cat
Thinking about Adoption? Ten Things to Ponder
It’s that time of year when many people start thinking about adoption. The holidays, families coming together, often are the impetus for serious discussions about adoption. Frankly, sometimes I wonder why everybody doesn’t adopt children. Other times, I wonder why anyone would. I’m not ambivalent, just multi-faceted.… Continue Reading “Thinking about Adoption? Ten Things to Ponder”
Grocery Shopping with the Unabomber
“You look like the Unabomber.” My son, the one my husband brought back from Nicaragua twenty-six years ago, the one who was all head and bloated stomach, with toothpick legs and arms, and a cry that was soft and mewing like a sleeping kitten… Continue Reading “Grocery Shopping with the Unabomber”
Beating it Back with a Stick
I held the handle of my umbrella under my chin so I wouldn’t get soaked pushing the grocery cart to my car. It should rain today, I thought. It should rain on days people die and on the days after. Or maybe what someone… Continue Reading “Beating it Back with a Stick”
The Waiting Room Wall
In the waiting room, we drift. We get up to go to the bathroom. We appreciate the automatic flush. We dry our hands with two towels and appreciate that, in the mirror, we look almost like we did when we first came to the… Continue Reading “The Waiting Room Wall”
Ms. Fix-It
Every time I see my kids, I want to fix something. Give advice, make a plan, counsel, analyze, and assess. This is a habit that I am trying to break. There are easier things. Tonight, I had a plan to dash from my class… Continue Reading “Ms. Fix-It”
Sidewalk Still Life
This is a fine empty cognac bottle. Sitting upright on the sidewalk next to a children’s theatre school, it looked like it had been placed there to be photogenic, to make having drunk an entire bottle of cognac appear to be almost genteel. I… Continue Reading “Sidewalk Still Life”
Who Is Helping Mom?
The phone rang just as I was about to put dinner on the table. It was Lou, my ex-boyfriend’s mother. She had the same hushed, hurried, worried tone that I’d heard every time her mentally ill son went missing or threatened her or holed… Continue Reading “Who Is Helping Mom?”
Back Up
Once in the mountains of Colorado after nearly two weeks of traveling in our ’48 Ford, after days of my mother’s infamous silent treatment, and after an hour of trying to get his notoriously temperamental light meter to work so he could take a… Continue Reading “Back Up”
At My Mother’s Knee
Showing up after ten years’ absence when your mother is ill with Alzheimer’s Disease and having her look at you and say, “I never thought I’d see you again,” and realizing that if you had waited, like you wanted to, for another six months… Continue Reading “At My Mother’s Knee”
What We Are Thinking When We Ask Politely
“You need to get your lazy-ass self off that couch and go do something useful.” “You need to work on your parenting skills.” “I’m not having a conversation with you, dumb-ass. You’ve got nothing to say that interests me. Just get your parked-like-a-cement-truck-ass in… Continue Reading “What We Are Thinking When We Ask Politely”
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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