Category Archives: Such is Life

For the past month of September I have been enjoying a daily bowl of raspberries, harvested from the bushes along our screened porch.  A previous essay nattered on about the beauty of raspberries, and positioned the seeds and thorny bushes … Continue reading →

The other day I was wandering lost in a Target Superstore, looking for one of those trivial items, like the darning needle that used to be sold locally until all the big box stores sucked the local sundry shops dry.  … Continue reading →

Unintended Consequences In the US health care system, the people are represented by three separate yet equally important groups; the doctors who treat patients, the employers who offer health care benefits and the insurance companies who administer them.  This is … Continue reading →

When you turn sixty I suppose that it is inevitable to get misty eyed and look back.  After all, I am standing on what I hope is a threshold (and not a precipice) between middle age and the next phase … Continue reading →

Age 50 has always been considered a significant milestone, spawning endless parties, toasts, silly hats and, dare I say it, trite doggerel.  However, I have come to regard age 50 as merely another year, significant only because of our 10 … Continue reading →

I stand here a stalwart but beleaguered member of the sandwich generation, a person who has marginal computer skills and even more tenuous tech support.  Activities of daily living (ADL) is a commonly used medical concept that describes a person’s … Continue reading →

Over the past seven years I watched helplessly as my mother’s bright and witty mind slowly unraveled.  And then over a brief 5 day period this July, her physical self quickly unraveled and suddenly she was gone.  Suddenly, I transitioned … Continue reading →

What a gift to grow up next to next door neighbors like the Reeds, who had 5 children who pretty much matched up with our family.   There was so much traffic between the two households that Mrs. Reed put stones … Continue reading →

My father began to contemplate retirement in the early 1980s, and thought computers might be a suitable focus for his newly acquired free time.  When Nick spotted a computer seminar, we thought that this would be the perfect introduction.  As … Continue reading →

One day I was sitting in the kitchen as my mother arrived from the grocery store and starting unloading groceries, as she had probably done almost once every day for at least 30 years.  But she hummed and there was … Continue reading →