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 […]


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You Can’t Always get What You Want, Part Two

Not Too Big. Trash Can HuntingAll I wanted was a new trash can for our kitchen. My requirements seemed simple enough: it had to fit in our trash can space inside a lower cabinet and have a lid. Easy, right? Wrong.I spotted a can that looked perfect, paid for it, brought it home. It was […]


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Beauty from Ashes

The Rings I Won’t be Wearing “What would you like to drink?” I asked our new pastor as he and his family arrived for lunch at our home last spring. “Water,” he said.Later the conversation turned to tea. Pastor Robert and his wife told us about some of the teas they had enjoyed in Russia. […]


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You Can’t Always get What You Want, Part One

Feasting at Dorita’s House, Fifteen Years Later.  The Nemesis Sandwich: Pain Coco “Come on!” Dorita said, “we have to get to Tavana‘s (governor’s) house to pick up our pain coco (coconut bread)!” I slipped on my flip-flops and followed my hostess down the path that led to the gravel road circling our island. We’d been waiting […]


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The Haircut

Rich and me Before the Haircut.  What the Hairdresser Showed Me“So,” he asked me, running his fingers through my graying curls, gauging the heft of my hair, “How much time a day do you spend on your hair?” “About thirty seconds,” I said, watching him. He didn’t blanch. “And I don’t want to color it,” […]


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