The year I was a therapy intern, I remember feeling a great sense of overall well-being. I knew I was being a good mom to my young children, and a loving and present partner to my husband. I was in graduate school to expand my mind, and I was being of service to low-income seniors […]
My 16-year-old son recently came home from school, freaking out that he might get a B in an AP class. Historically, this has not been his M.O., but at the beginning of his sophomore year it started to dawn on him that it was time to get to work. He was hearing and feeling the […]
Shortly after I got married, my 64-year-old mother lost her battle with breast cancer. Seven years later my father joined her. The loss isn’t any less painful just because you are a grown-up. I was 39 and an orphan. It sounds strange to say it that way, but that was how it felt. “Untethered,” was […]
I have never been a big fan of regret, all at once feeling and knowing its futility. However, if I could go back and meet my younger self, say in my 20s or 30s, I would tell that stonewashed-jeans-wearing girl the following: 1. Stop worrying about what other people think. They aren’t thinking about you […]
I met a woman a few weeks ago who doesn’t like to get massages. I felt like I needed an interpreter. What could she possibly mean by speaking this heresy? I have heard of people who weren’t into it, but I assumed that like “uptight yoga instructors,” and mean Trader Joe’s employees they were mythological […]
A few years ago, my athletic prowess and inherent grace caused me to tear a few ligaments in my ankle by falling UP the stairs of my home. Anyone can fall down a set of stairs, but you need to be very special to do it in reverse. Following months of resting, healing, wearing a […]
I admit it. I am an obit reader. I look at the photo first to see if I know them and then almost reflexively at their age. 89? Not bad. 76? Too early. 56. Damn. Too close to home. Of course, I then have to know how they died and if the cause of death isn’t […]
Cannabidiol. CBD. Don’t get too excited. This is the non-psychotropic part of either the marijuana or the hemp plant. According to the CDC, “Hemp is defined as any part of the cannabis sativa plant with no more than 0.3% of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).” Which is otherwise known as the “stoney part.” However, use caution when buying […]
A few months ago, I had a diagnostic test for some G.I. issues. Just to clarify, that was not referencing a broken romance with a soldier on leave, but gastrointestinal issues. A little less sexy. I was introduced to my doctor about ten minutes before the procedure. As I always have a million questions, I […]
As Winter gives way to Spring, I find myself pondering life’s various transitions. Never more so than this week, while in Mammoth with my teenagers for our annual pilgrimage to the snow. For the first time, my 13-year-old daughter left our rented condo on her own to meet a friend on the mountain. Happy, confident, […]
When my daughter was in kindergarten, she came home distraught because her teacher wanted all the students to share what they wanted to be when they grew up. She looked up at me with tear-filled eyes and said, “Mommy, I am only 5. How am I supposed to know that?” Exactly. At 5, or 55 […]
In the 1990s, a wonder drug took the step aerobic, Atkins-dieting, slip dress wearing population by storm. Fenfluramine/phentermine, the pharmaceutical treatment known as Fen-Phen, appeared to be the panacea that cellulite battlers worldwide had been searching for. Effects included loss of appetite, feel good hormones surging and fat melting off at a staggering rate. It […]
I was going to be the “Cool Mom.” The “Let’s Play Hooky and Eat Ice Cream For Dinner Mom.” Or at least that was the plan. The cruel reality came crashing down during the COVID pandemic when, against my will, I blurted out to my children the words feared by parents and kids alike: “Because […]