Grandfamilies: Want Warmer Relationships? Stop Doing These Six Things

Don’t Go Off Mad. When you are nurturing relationships with adult children (yours, steps, in-laws, or exes), grandchildren, and all the other characters who play a role on your family’s stage, it’s a good idea to think about your habits. A thoughtful review may reveal a few statements better left unsaid, actions better left undone. […]


The Reunion

My Brother, Cousin Marcia, Cousin Hugh. Ca. 1969. [Click here to read the beginning of this story. Click here to read its conclusion.] Walking the Ruins   We pull into the parking lot and panic overwhelms me. I glance at my cousin Hugh in the back seat and see, for the first time, what others […]


Papaya Lonely

Papaya Tree. Longing and Fruit “I’d be happy just to sit here and watch you all breathe,” I tell my daughter. We’ve arrived at her home at Pearl Harbor for a ten-day visit and she is working up a sightseeing itinerary. We planned our vacation to visit her, her husband, and the boys. It just […]


The Reunion

My Brother, Cousin Marcia, Cousin Hugh. Ca. 1969. [Click here to read the beginning of this story. Click here to read its conclusion.]   Walking the Ruins We pull into the parking lot and panic overwhelms me. I glance at my cousin Hugh in the back seat and see, for the first time, what others […]


A Daughter Named Rebecca

Weddings, Vests, and Love The email exchange between my bonus daughter Rebecca and me started innocently enough: We’d ordered her father’s tuxedo for the big day and it seemed the order wasn’t for the vest and tie that Rebecca had described to us. So I was trying to clarify what color those accessories should be. […]