Lines - of credit, of dialogue and of poetry, chorus, fishing and party - my grandmother said they all had one thing in common. They were God's way of teaching us patience. Well, Grandmother, now that I'm older there seems to be an exception to the rule. The ones across my forehead are from a lack of patience.
When I was in preschool, I was taught to stay within the lines when I colored....
I don't listen to music unless I'm somewhere it's played for the masses - like supermarkets or shopping malls, places where pop songs are meant to sooth us savage beasts and keep us shopping. I'm a talk radio junkie. The only time I turn my radio to a music station is at Christmas.
Christmas carols fill me with feelings of peace on earth, good will to men - that is, if they're played after...
Perspective changes with time. When I was two, I said no because I was expressing my independence; but that changed. I didn't say no in school because I didn't want to be left out. I didn't say no at my job because I didn't want to be left behind. My grandmother said the right to say no had to be earned. When I asked when I'd earn it, she said - I'd know.
When I was five or six and starting...
Although getting what you pay for is a truism that's withstood time, we keep trying to get more than we pay for. We buy on sale, at discount and in bulk. We use coupons and accumulate frequent flyer miles. Nevertheless, profit margins are rarely marginal. Even going out of business sales make money. When my sons were growing up, I thought they'd put all-you-can-eat buffets out of business; but...
Charles Darwin, Florence Nightingale and Michelangelo supposedly had obsessive compulsive disorder. David Beckham, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Martin Scorcesse supposedly have OCD. I know I'm compulsive; but because I don't think about it obsessively, I don't think I have OCD.
I prefer to think of myself as a doer - a person who likes to get things done that have to be done. Housework, meal...
With age comes experience and with experience things get easier - except sleep. As I toss and turn, adjust my bedcovers and refluff my pillow, I remember what my grandmother said about insomnia - it's not worth losing sleep over.
Usually time flys. It's Monday, then it's Thursday. Because of the faster pace of life, teenagers are now experiencing this phenomenon. Yes, how fast time passes...
Collections are like home movies. Everyone has them, but no one wants to see them. Museums are the exception. People go to museums and pay to see other peoples' collections. My husband loves museums. He wants to see and read everything. I love seeing some things; but after a couple of hours, I'd rather see a collection of my thoughts, a chair and a snack.
The Museum of Bad Art is in Dedham,...
I have friends who have stopped celebrating their birthdays. My grandmother wouldn't have approved. She lived to be ninety-one and she celebrated every one of those ninety-one years. Granted, some years were better than others; but she'd ask me if I knew how many people in the cemetery would like to be her age. The answer, of course, was all of them.
As we get older, candles on a cake can...
When I was a child, I traveled a lot by train. The train cars were nicer then. The service was better and the schedules were more convenient and definitely more reliable. My sister still enjoys traveling by train, but I think her enthusiasm is influenced by her acrophobia. I limit my trains to trains of thought - but even those aren't as reliable as they used to be.
When I was in school, I...
Writing, cooking, gardening, dressing - we all have our own style. If everyone did things the same way, we'd still be walking and we'd still be using pack animals. If the wheel hadn't been invented, Pat Sajak and Vanna White would be unemployed.
Grace Kelly, Jackie Kennedy, Katharine Hepburn, Sophia Loren - these women could wear burlap bags and still look beautiful. They personify the...
