The following is the script from a stand-up comedy routine I wrote and performed at QueerSpeak open mic at Project Lodge on 8/24/11. The set is a look at aging and the increased interactions we have with healthcare providers and the surprising observations made by the young people in our lives. Today, in a couple of hours, I’m going to have carpal tunnel release surgery. When I am able to write again, I’m sure there will be more humorous stories to tell. Continue reading
Mixed Metaphors
Mixed Metaphors, Oh My! – A place where words, this writer, and readers play together.
Tag Archives: Family
Third Act
“There’s a moment when people know — whatever their skills are at denial — that they have passed from what they can delude themselves into thinking is middle age to something that you could call the third act.” Nora Ephron
First, let me say denial is powerful. It can both serve us and hurt us, but in the end it must be faced and addressed. Though I am living the sixth decade of my life, a thirty-something still resides inside, a youthful, progressive-thinking woman trying to figure what she wants to be when she grows up. I am always surprised when I look in the mirror and see my sixty-something self. Continue reading
The Lone Ranger, Annie Oakley and the Bride Doll
Today, I saw the premiere of “The Lone Ranger.” Critics have been ravaging the film for many reasons, but for this writer it was a nostalgic journey back to a time of childhood heroes and themes of good versus evil, white hats and black hats. Continue reading
The Skinny on Medicalized Obesity
On Tuesday, June 18, 2013, I learned I have another disease —obesity. The American Medical Association (A.M.A.) at their annual meeting in Chicago recognized obesity as a disease in hopes that the medical community could treat this issue that affects one in three adult Americans, nearly 75 million, and about 12 million (16.9%) U.S. children ages 2 to 19 with education, prevention and intervention. Advocates hope this declaration will help improve reimbursement for obesity drugs, counseling, and surgery. Continue reading
Three Fathers
Father’s Day is Sunday and I’ve been reflecting on my family history and the role of the men in my life. I hail from a matriarchal background, from both my paternal and maternal lineages. The families were headed by women, by default due to death and abandonment on my father’s side, and because of death on my mother’s. The women, my great grandmothers and grandmothers were loyal, hardworking and committed to their namesakes and either outlived or outlasted their male counterparts. Today, my mother carries on the tradition and is the head of my immediate family, she is the glue that holds us together and usually has the last word. Continue reading
A Moving Story III
Home Again
Home again; another journey ends. I’m home again and grateful. Yesterday, when I woke up in my new home after making coffee, followed by making my bed (old habits are hard to break), I sat at my desk, looked out my window on the world — or at least my neighborhood — and journaled. I immediately felt comforted by a familiar ritual as I reflected on the days that led to my arrival here. Continue reading
A Grateful Daughter
Every year when Mother’s Day approaches, I think about all the things I want to tell my mother, all the many ways I’m grateful to be her daughter. Most years I find one or two things to share with her, as I sit with her and hold her hand, I share a story about what it means to me to be her daughter. Continue reading
First Friend
Today is my sister Roz’s birthday. Every year, when we’d talk on the phone or see each other on her birthday, I’d comment that we could always count on a beautiful day. As I write, the grey clouds are receding, revealing blue sky and the promise of a pleasant spring day. Continue reading
My Butch Girlfriends
First, one of my ex-girlfriends is visiting Madison in a couple of weeks and we’re going to get together for dinner. We haven’t seen each other for probably over twenty years. I’m looking forward to her visit for a number of reasons, including seeing how time has changed us and how we might remain the same. My recent post, The Ties that Bind explored who in our lives help make up a family, and how friendships bind us together and to our personal history. Continue reading
The Ties That Bind
“As long as the ties that bind us together are stronger than those that would tear us apart, all will be well.”
Today’s post is part film review, memoir and musing about the ties that bind us and explores the question of who makes up a family and how a family is made, nurtured, and maintained. Continue reading