On a dismal, sleeting January morning, “the Ice Storm of ’98” had set in. My husband, 10-month-old son and I had moved to my parents’ home, since our own house, which depended upon electricity, oil and hot water radiators, was cold. At my parents’ house there was no power, no phone service or running water, […]

We four had to sneak into town. We’d left Maine on a Friday in mid-March in my oversized gray Chevy van with its twin beds in the back. We arrived in western Pennsylvania at my aunt’s in the wee hours of the morning. The next day was the surprise celebration of my parents’ 50th wedding […]