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 […]

Hero worship is an idea that now seems limited to important people who do extraordinary things, like Michelle Obama, Gov. Cuomo or Justice Sonya Sotomayor. I am now almost 60 and I have almost forgotten that hero worship when you are young is different: bigger, attainable, a tangible thing. I am 11 years younger than […]

It was a hot summer day back in the early ’60s and I was a scrawny 7-year-old in my red sneakers and one-piece sunsuit. I was swinging on our swing set just to feel a breeze. I swung high and when I came back down, Dad had pulled up in front of the house in […]

Loved to shift the “four-on the-floor” when I was around 6, adored perching fearlessly high on the seat of a John Deere at maybe 8, and jumped at the chance (without permission and illegally) to tool around town in my dad’s ’37 Plymouth while he was at church. I was 12. Didn’t get far, hooked […]

In my 20s, most of my friends were having babies. Suddenly in my 30s, I was concerned becoming a mom was not in the cards. After I miscarried our first pregnancy, my biological clock sounded like Big Ben. Then, there he was, my son. In the driver’s seat, I quickly discovered by adjusting the rearview […]

As I sit comfortably in my living room watching “Match Game” on television, Alec Baldwin asks his contestants the $5,000 question, “What top three answers go with the word ‘shift’?” He repeats. “Shift ‘blank’ or ‘blank’ shift?” My immediate response as I shout out to my empty living room – Shift “gears”! On second thought, […]

A well-timed phrase can stimulate my writing process. This often happens for me in the Meetinghouse newspaper feature. “In the Driver’s Seat” is a good example. Lately I have felt out of the driver’s position. For medical, travel, etc., reasons I have been on the receiving end of others’ kindness. Little victories have had to […]

I was 11, sister Kris was 9. We were off to the Rockies from our suburban Denver house for what Dad liked to call “A Bum’s Vacation.” This meant we left Mom at home because she made us brush our teeth and eat healthy meals. What fun is that? (Years later, I confessed to Mom […]