Flyaway Heroine

Cadence and Elaine. Wife. Mom. Patriot. My daughter Elaine and our grandson Sawyer are flying home to Hawaii today. They’ve been visiting in California for a month now. The family arrived in a single piece: Elaine, her husband Rob, who’s a chief in the U.S. Navy, older son Cadence, and toddler Sawyer. Rob flew back […]


Living in Great Big Bites

Rear: Elaine, Me in My So-Happy-I’m-Goofy Face, Rich Front: Cadence, Sawyer, Vaite, Rob The Best Kind of Crazy“How, exactly do those French women stay so slim?” I ask my niece, Vaite, over dinner one evening. With her fork she nudges about four bites of homemade macaroni and cheese into a tiny heap on her plate. […]


Acoustic Vacation

Sunrise on Oahu’s North Shore. The Incredible Sweetness of Being, Part Nine I unplugged for this vacation. My husband, Rich, and I flew to Hawaii to visit my daughter, Elaine, her husband, Rob, their boys, Cadence and Sawyer, and Little Miss Kidney Bean, due to be born in September. They’re stationed at Pearl Harbor, for now, […]


She Said "Yes"!

Aloha! And So Did She. And So Did She. Our vacation begins tomorrow.  My husband, Rich, and I will fly to Hawaii to visit my daughter Elaine, (whose birthday was yesterday), her husband Rob, our grandsons, Cadence and Sawyer, and the baby sister who is eagerly expected in September.  We’ve arranged care for our dogs. […]


The Grief-Tested Car

Elaine and me, Quietly Happy Together. Tahiti. January, 2004. Reunions, Funerals, and Oil Lines My daughter Elaine, grandsons Cadence and Sawyer, her husband’s sister Crissy, and Crissy’s baby Annabelle land at LAX in ten hours and twenty-five minutes.  Not that I’m counting or anything.  The U.S. Navy sent my daughter and her family to Hawaii […]