From the Hare Krishnas beating their drums to the fleet of horns-a-blaring, lights-a-flashing tow trucks, the 2022 Rose Parade was everything I could have imagined. To be clear, the Hare Krishnas, followed by the Jesus Saves group, were not official entries. And there was little chance my soul would be saved that day with what I muttered when the alarm sounded at 4:30. However, they did provide some pre-parade distraction along the route while we waited. The tow-trucks however, were the Continue Reading
Dreaming of a White Christmas
There I was, sitting in row three of the balcony, dead-center. It was the Phoenix Symphony Holiday Concert with the Phoenix Choir, and within seconds of the start of the song, tears began to form. Soon, I was searching for Kleenex in my purse to dab those I couldn’t blink back. The top of my mask absorbed the runaways. I never got close to a sob, but I felt my bottom lip quiver. Fortunately, the tears were gone by the final note. “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used Continue Reading
Going Home, Part 2
A month ago or so, I wrote about going home, and asked, can we ever go home again? I was on my way to my small hometown in Wisconsin where I was raised and educated, and flew the coop the first chance I had (1976). Yet, it has always been home. My parents are buried there, I have several school friends who live in the area, and fortunately, my sister and several members of her family remain there. In 2001, after having lived in several other towns and cities for work, I moved to the Lansing, Continue Reading
Going Home -Part 1
Can you ever go home again? And what does that mean to you? I ask because in a couple of days, I’m on my way home. Oh, not permanently, but for a brief visit, enough to conjure up warm memories that are already making me a bit gooey inside. The smell of spray starch when I bounded in from school and chatted with my mom while she did the ironing.The slap, slap of the cards on the dining room table as Dad played solitaire every night.The snow forts we’d make in the winter when the snow plow Continue Reading