Christmas no longer means very much to me. It's meant to be a time of family celebration but I no longer have a family in the conventional sense. My siblings and I have managed to make such a hash out of our love lives over the years that we are left with each other and the broken bits of our adulthoods trailing behind us like so much tissue stuck ( Read more... )

So, it hasn't been an easy Autumn. The weather in New York and Connecticut is decidedly cooler. Some people prefer it that way but I never look forward to the shorter days and dark mornings. And, the annual call from Sis regarding Thanksgiving ( Read more... )

Well, the dust has settled. I'm still processing, but there is no denying the reality at least: I am seventy years of age ( Read more... )

Busy, joyous, cathartic day. The older I get, the more meaningful this page of the Christian calendar becomes. And, it's funny because my family doesn't have any real traditions associated with it. I don't recall any elaborate meals served on that day. It did not mark the ending of Lent because Lent itself was not a part of our observance ( Read more... )

It's felt like forever since I visited Mom. Between RC support groups week, Sis's birthday and shopping for a new laptop (all those Trojan horse attacks finally caught up with the old one) a solid week had passed by. I finally geared up to set out to Flushing right after one of my own doctors appointments in Manhattan last Friday. It was the day ( Read more... )

I'm getting used to these creatures and to the fact that I am one of them, only smaller. They no longer look like monsters. They are harmless, for the most part. They make the same sounds I have always heard. Only now, and every so often, I recognize a particular whoosh of breath or clicking of the tongue to mean something significant. "MAR-LEE", ( Read more... )

Edgar Dawson, the diminutive man of African American descent, who often ushers during Morning Mass turned 95, I believe today. It is incredible to me that this quiet, sturdy, gentle man is only a year younger than Mom and has full use of his legs and limbs and intelligence. He received a standing ovation during morning Mass and a second round of " ( Read more... )

Miss Honey reminded me that VRaptor had recently celebrated his birthday. It probably happened in September because it's right around Mom's. What I hadn't realized was that it was his fortieth. I wish I'd known (or paid more attention) because I'd like to think I would have made bigger deal out of it ( Read more... )

Later, on Tuesday I left work to go to the nursing home, but, I must have over swiped my Metrocard (New Yorkers know all to well the mysteries attendant to properly swiping the electronic tape on the back of this card) which meant that I had to wait a minimum of 12 minutes before it no longer looked as though I had just paid a fare. But, instead of ( Read more... )

Things calmed down a little once Mom was released from the ICU and was a regular patient, albeit one with a life-threatening ailment, enough to let Sis entertain the idea of celebrating Big Bro' and my birthdays as previously scheduled ( Read more... )