I was on a journey to circumnavigate the US and Nova Scotia this year, but a miracle birth happened in my family, causing me to put on the brakes—in fact to put on the parking break for a month.
Read moreOne foot on the dock...one foot in the boat.
Boys + Bear playing in the bed
After spending Spring Break week in my motor home I woke up in my apartment, in my own bed, disoriented; couldn’t find the bathroom for a nighttime visit without putting a light on.
Read moreThe Blues
The best Easter ever!
A lot is happening every day, but it is so hard to write about stuff as it is happening. I'm going to have to get used to live-blogging I guess. Don’t think I’m a tweet-grrl, but “never say never” as my bro always reminds me.
After the kids went home, I got the blues. No. Capital B Blues!
Read moreA Very Different New Year
Mildred Josephine English-McCann 01/02/21--01/01/15
New Year’s Day, 2015, I was settling in to sort, shred or re-file some more papers from my file cabinets when I got the call from one of the nuns at the Queen of Peace Residence that I’d been anticipating for the last five years. Mom’s health had taken a turn for the worse very quickly. I should hurry, if I wanted to say goodbye.
Read moreThree Zip Codes
This trip, for someone who has only ever lived in three New York City Zip Codes, is a pilgrimage. I need to go off and do a challenging thing, so that I can process what I’ve lived and learned thus far, and know myself better, here in my “Third Act.” I need to learn to take care of myself in the face of geographic and social variations.
Read moreLeaving Folks Behind
I can't leave my boys for a year! Jack is eight, Ted is seven, and Charlie is four-and-a-half. I have been watching these three fabulous grandsons grow up since they were born. I've been in their home to visit or to babysit, or go on an outing, three times a month. I feel like I'd be breaking something in that covenant with them--the promise of being available, being present in their lives
Read moreHappy Thanksgiving!
Hogwarts in East Harlem
Today is Thanksgiving. Yesterday was The Feast @ Park East. The teachers cook, we rent tables and chairs, and set up a Hogwarts style-dining hall in our gym. And we feed everyone: turkey and the traditional sides, or ham and macaroni and cheese to kids who don’t like turkey. We also feed forty or sixty alumni who come back to visit and help out. They visit the current classes of students and we set up panel discussions for them to tell of their adventures out in the real world of college and work. It is always the high point of the day for me. I get all teary to see these young men and women who, (just a minute ago) were scared little pups fourteen-years-old, first days of high school.
Read moreVisiting with MR/Marie Howe Poem
In 2012, I lost my best friend to pancreatic cancer. Mary Rose was a former lover, and sister-like dear, dear friend. She had a great retirement package, savings, a beautiful home, but her life was cut short.She was at peace with the situation at the end of her fight, and had six-years to get ready. The long goodbye helped, but my grief at her loss was devastating. The deeply connected day to day-ness of our relationship meant that, when she was gone, I was left with a huge hole in my life. Margaret, Alyssa, and I were the “Mary Widows,” I forget who jokingly coined that phrase, but it stuck.
Read moreAcadia in my past. Acadia in my future.
For my first trip to Acadia as an adult Barbara and I bought a van, turned it into a camper, and took Tom, Brian, and my Tommy to Acadia National Park when he was about five. It will be fun to go there now with the next generation. The grandkids can play and we’ll take them hiking.
Read moreTransition Life Review
Life Review: Scanning Mom’s Photos
Summer 2014. For three really hot and humid days, I sat in my apartment listening to books on Audible, finishing a project I’d started a couple of summers ago, and had worked on over my summer vacations--to scan a giant box of my mom’s photos.
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