Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Tag: family
Painting after a Funeral
I am tired from the painting and the funeral-going, the driving, the turnpikes, the rain in sheets, blinding us in the midst of giant, careening trucks, their drivers late for dinner, the turnpike shoulders taken up by construction, orange cones in blurry lines, relatives… Continue Reading “Painting after a Funeral”
Kathleen
Tall woman long coat Echoes of generations Sound in her greeting ________________ Photo by Anete Lūsiņa on Unsplash
Finding Them
We set out to find my husband’s parents’ graves. We hadn’t been back to the cemetery in suburban Chicago since his father’s death 12 years ago. So we drove there today, GPS’d our way to the cemetery’s gates and then parked in front of… Continue Reading “Finding Them”
The Gathering
When I am old and alone, if that’s how it turns out, one of the things I will miss most is the gathering at night. The kitchen light People talking over each other Plates set and cleared I wonder what will mark the close… Continue Reading “The Gathering”
Camping
A sentence I wrote six years ago seems even truer now. Those of you who are parents in complicated relationships with your adult children will get this. It took me a long time to get it but I finally did and I’m glad of… Continue Reading “Camping”
Father’s Day Post #1
I think being a father is a tougher proposition than being a mother. I think mothers do more work, carry more burden, actual and abstract, and spend more time on a very sharp hook. But I think fathers have a harder row to hoe.… Continue Reading “Father’s Day Post #1”
Saturday Night: Things that Moved Me This Week
This is what has been extraordinary here this week: – A colleague told me about her ‘after her day job’ work housing people recently discharged from prison, work she does with her husband out of pure commitment, no business, no funding, just belief in… Continue Reading “Saturday Night: Things that Moved Me This Week”
The Rebuked Apology
Interpersonal warfare has many dimensions. In the giant storeroom of weapons and strategies, next to the M16’s and poison arrows, is the rebuked apology. This is the scalpel of conflict, the slitting of the aorta, the permanent solution. There is no coming back from… Continue Reading “The Rebuked Apology”
Happy Birthday, Sis, Assuming You’re Still Alive
If you are estranged from a family member, you might not know whether he or she is still alive. This is an odd concept for many of my friends whose families vacation together, babysit each other’s kids, and celebrate every holiday together. Would anyone… Continue Reading “Happy Birthday, Sis, Assuming You’re Still Alive”
#16/100: The Agony Wars
Sadder still is when already ill people break their legs falling over toys their distracted children left scattered carelessly, and are too late to help a dying friend dial the phone for help.
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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