Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Tag: depression
Secrets
Long ago, when I was a young woman and my boyfriend tried to end his life and ended up in intensive care after surgery to repair five stab wounds to his abdomen, my mother gave him rocks she’d found at the beach and a… Continue Reading “Secrets”
The Limits of Our Experience: Understanding Depression and Suicide
A few days ago, some people had a suicide story. Now, everyone has one. If you never knew anyone who died by suicide, not a single friend or relative, someone at work, down the block, you knew Robin Williams. Everybody knew Robin Williams. We knew… Continue Reading “The Limits of Our Experience: Understanding Depression and Suicide”
#12/100: Where’s Your Cart?
I think the secret to happiness is keeping control of your grocery cart. This isn’t as easy as it sounds. You can be inspecting the bananas or deciding how much more broccoli you can really bear to eat and that cart can just amble… Continue Reading “#12/100: Where’s Your Cart?”
We Get Better with Time
This much is clear to me about being a mother. Age makes us better. Death makes us extraordinary. My mother, gone now twelve years, has reached near sainthood. When the local paper solicited photos of mothers ‘no longer with us’ along with a short… Continue Reading “We Get Better with Time”
Wishing for More Weeds
In the hottest part of the summer August when our lawn turns brown Unwatered and drier than sand My mother pulls weeds Working her way up one side And down the other of the gravel driveway Pulling each dandelion growing along the Edge of… Continue Reading “Wishing for More Weeds”
New Year’s Fowl
Everyone’s writing about their New Year’s resolutions so I think I should join in. My resolution is to continue what has been a pretty successful two-week effort to control my own moods. I am a sitting duck for episodes of depression and anxiety, times… Continue Reading “New Year’s Fowl”
Dress-Up
I’d wear Groucho Marx glasses every day if I could. It has limited effect now, however, since practically no one now knows who Groucho Marx was. The fun of flicking a stogie is lost on 90% of the people I encounter. So, why bother?… Continue Reading “Dress-Up”
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”
You Need to See a Shrink
Every time I drive this patch of road, which is almost everyday, I remember being told right at this exact spot, “You need to see a shrink.” I was the passenger in the car. The driver was my friend who was also my boss… Continue Reading “You Need to See a Shrink”
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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