I am from it’s the season of Dad stressed sermon-writing and Mom making brisket and freezing applesauce and baking Marian Burros’ plum cake. Continue reading
mother
On Your 87th Birthday
Mom,
I want to forge ahead, passport to laughter and adventure in hand, Continue reading
Where’s My Knife?
“Where’s my knife?” she asks. Continue reading
Keinahora
Keinahora. Grandma said it all the time, so much so that I thought it was a nickname for Jackie and me, like Piscatrunie, which was her nickname for us – wasn’t it? Continue reading
Norma
My daughter answered the phone. Her voice went up an octave, and her face forced a smile, as if the caller could see her and she needed to convey welcome. Translation? She had no idea who she was talking with. But, a well-trained clergy kid who can make small talk with the best of them, she chatted with whomever was calling her grandmother. I watched from Mom’s kitchen, trying to guess the caller’s identity while Mom slept in the living room, unawakened by the ringing phone.
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Walk your block
I watched the red tail lights move down the block until they turned East at the end of our street. The dark was that of night, but the traffic was less at 5.40 am. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a couple walking down the middle of my street, following in the path of those lights. “What a peaceful time to walk,” I thought, and then remembered the hour. Continue reading
In my mother’s house
In my mother’s house everything is calm. Continue reading
Loud cashews
The cashews were really loud. I didn’t care in the slightest. Continue reading
This melody
My daughter sleeps in my arms. I sit in the in the timeless modern rocking chair from my infancy, singing Leaving on a Jet Plane and Hebrew folk songs from my childhood. Continue reading