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Melba’s ghost.
My extended family is very large. My paternal grandmother gave birth to ten children and saw seven of them into adulthood. So I have a multitude of cousins on that side of my family, many of whom I’ve never met, because they were all older than me. My dad was 40 when I was born,… Continue reading
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Still I rise.
I was supposed to see Maya Angelou on a cruise I took in 2014, but she was ill. She died just months later, but she did join our cruise by satellite video link to read some of her poetry and share some of her thoughts. One of my favorite Angelou poems is Still I Rise.… Continue reading
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Forgiveness.
Plenty of people have said that forgiveness is not for the other person; it’s for you. Most of the time, though we understand the concept, we can’t do it. It’s too hard to let it go, to put aside the intensity of the grudge we carry. That grudge can make us feel powerful in some… Continue reading
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9/12/01. The day after.
Everyone has their own recollection of 9/11, if they were alive on that day. (It’s hard for me to believe that there are now sophomores and juniors in college who were not yet born when that tragic event occurred.) That day is seared in my memory forever, but the days after 9/11/2001 are as well.… Continue reading
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The abyss.
Are you one of those people who, when standing too close to the edge, feels pulled? Like gravity is sucking you over that edge? I am. It’s for this reason I have never been interested in things like hiking steep inclines or rock climbing or even rollercoasters. The ground beckons me back to its cruel… Continue reading
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Every one I lose takes a little bit of me.
In the last few days, two more people in my circle have passed. One was someone I barely knew but someone who meant a tremendous amount to others in my circle who did know her well. She worked at our local coffee shop. Thankfully, her final illness seemed to be brief, and she didn’t suffer… Continue reading
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Fuck cancer, part deux
Like most things in life, people want you to get over whatever it was that hurt you, and as soon as possible, because they don’t want to hear about it. It makes them uncomfortable. When my daughter died, there was an initial outpouring of support, but it dried up quickly. Some of the things I… Continue reading
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Fuck cancer.
Friday was the one year anniversary of my friend Jordan’s death. (This is my post from last year shortly after Jordan died, if you’re interested.) Jordan was my “chemo buddy”. He was my friend. Here’s how that came about. Jordan was a little older than me and had retired from Xerox, where he had worked… Continue reading
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Take care of yourself.
If you don’t take care of yourself, who else will? This month was full of tough moments, new memories, and exciting times. My son moved away. That was tough. Two friends treated me to lunch on separate weekends. Those are good memories. I am refinancing my house, which makes it easier for me to stay… Continue reading
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If your child is an addict, I am your worst nightmare.
A movie called Four Good Days was in my suggestions on Amazon Prime. The movie stars Glenn Close and Mila Kunis. It’s very much worth a watch, but I found myself sometimes shouting at the TV, sometimes closing my eyes, and sometimes just feeling it right in the gut. Although Stephanie was never a heroin… Continue reading
About Me
A writer and solitary soul in the mountains of Western North Carolina.
Poetic License 