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The Truth About Grandmothers
Yesterday, as I was scrolling through Facebook checking on my friends’ latest news, I noticed a post from a dear former student of mine. She wrote a very touching message about losing her 94-year-old grandmother. I read it, and her words resonated with me. So often as a writer, I’m asked what influences my stories and where the ideas come from. I suppose anyone who writes novels or nonfiction answers this the same way—the stories typically come from people we know or stories we have heard or read about in the news. There are people and personal acquaintances that influence our storytelling. And then there are grandmothers. If you’ve read…
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An Easter Contemplation About Grandparents
* Two days ago, my aunt posted the above photo of my grandparents on Facebook, wishing my grandmother (we called her Nanny) a happy birthday in Heaven. She’s been gone from us for quite some time, but seeing the photo, while we simultaneously fight this coronavirus pandemic and Easter is upon us, made me contemplate my pretty blessed life thus far. While no life is perfect, and my own family’s past year and half has been beyond weird and strange and sad and disruptive, I look back with joy on all that we have been blessed with in our lives. I was very fortunate to have all of my grandparents…
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What Summer Offers You And Your Family – Reminiscing
*** When you were a kid, do you remember how summers seemed to linger, the days felt long, and you stayed outside until dark catching fireflies in your Mason jars? Do you remember playing Marco Polo endlessly at the pool, riding your bike to the park and feeling the burning heat of the day on your legs as you slid down the metal slide, and getting ice cream every day from the pool snack bar without counting calories? What I remember most about my childhood summers is being outdoors. Sure, some days in the backyard were hot, but we’d spread out a blanket underneath a tree and break out the…
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Your Earliest Memories: What Do You Remember?
*** I remember dearly my great grandparents. In fact, my great grandfather outlived my own grandfather, who died of Leukemia at the young age of 63. I bring this up because we were having a conversation the other day about our earliest memories—things we remember from being a kid. I have some distinct early memories as a child growing up in New Jersey before we moved to Maryland when I was five years old. Several of my early memories involve my mom’s parents’ house on Myrtle Avenue in Cedar Grove, New Jersey. They lived in a Cape Cod style house—an adorable little thing with a back yard full of gardens,…
