Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Tag: Aging in a Good Way
The Day the Truth Saved Her
Once upon a time, there was a woman who practiced fooling herself every day. She was so good at it that she could go months with no firm grasp of the truth. The truth changed colors in her hands like a kaleidoscope dissembled and… Continue Reading “The Day the Truth Saved Her”
What Do You See?
We walk past their room on the way to ours up the stairs. He is eating grapefruit and she is sorting photographs. They are very old. He is thin and tall and wears a white dress shirt, rumpled and soft as if he’d saved… Continue Reading “What Do You See?”
Button Up Your Pod
Stories of people my age forgetting which is the business end of a pencil make my blood run cold. That wasn’t always the case. When the people who got the mental flutters were a lot older than me, I could relax. I was in… Continue Reading “Button Up Your Pod”
Time in a Bottle
That’s my brother on the bed, being a new baby in the afternoon, the afternoon’s sunlight softly sprayed across my parents’ bedspread. He is waking from a nap and because he is their first baby and still new, my mother calls for my father… Continue Reading “Time in a Bottle”
Note to My 19-Year Old Self
If this note had been left on my pillow when I was 19, I would have been offended. Advice from any corner, even my future 65 year-old self, would be an insinuation that I wasn’t running my own life well. And even if it was true… Continue Reading “Note to My 19-Year Old Self”
You’re Asking the Wrong Question
I’m sorry. Let me say this in the kindest possible way. Asking me what I will do to stay ‘young at heart’ as I get older is ageist. Why would anyone assume that it is better to be young at heart than old at… Continue Reading “You’re Asking the Wrong Question”
Scarface
It’s ten days before Christmas so I am going to write ten Christmas stores although I may need to draw on themes other than Christmas. So the title of this series is “Ten Christmas Stories that May Not Exactly be about Christmas.” This is… Continue Reading “Scarface”
The End of Lament
I crossed over today. There’s no other way to say it. Like a dying person who sees the bright light, I’ve stopped the struggle, ended the resistance, faced the truth and found that I am fine with it. All at once and for no… Continue Reading “The End of Lament”
Confronting My Own Ageism
Viewed from behind, the man appeared to be headless. There were his khaki pants, his white shirt neatly tucked in, a cane swinging as he walked, but where his head should have been there was only his collar. As we drove by him and… Continue Reading “Confronting My Own Ageism”
The Magic of the Salon
“How big a birthday? You mean you’re turning 85?” My hairdresser…for a slight moment there, I thought I should use a more current term like stylist or whatever and then I quick Googled hairdresser and this is what Wikipedia says: Hairdresser is a term… Continue Reading “The Magic of the Salon”
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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