Almost Heaven?
My parents were born and raised in West Virginia, so we often visited there when I was growing up. My dad’s parents lived on Twenty-Sixth Street in Huntington and his brother, my Uncle Leonard, lived with his family on the same street, just up the road a bit. Though I loved seeing my grandparents, my favorite place to stay during our visits was at Uncle Leonard’s house where I could spend time with my cousins Frances, Johnny, and David. Frances and my sister Debbie were a bit older, so they tended to hang out in Frances’ room for girl talk. Pretty boring. I, on the other hand, felt right at home with the boys. My memories are varied, but vivid. Having boy-cousins to pal around with was akin to having brothers, something I never experienced. Other than...
A Summer of Contrasts
One of my stories has just been featured on Pulse, Voices from the Heart of Medicine. Here’s the link: https://pulsevoices.org/pulse-more-voices/more-voices-2023/bedside-manner/a-summer-of-contrasts/
The Sixth Sense
Humans have five basic senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. I would postulate there is a sixth sense, though maybe it’s peculiar only to me: sensus scelerisque, in Latin, or chocolate sense. It has to do with the deep need and desire for chocolate. Some people might call it an addiction. But is that truly what it is when a person can barely think without it? I stopped eating chocolate for six months while following an anti-inflammation diet. The diet included eliminating sweets and increasing consumption of protein. It seems the protein saved me from the expected chocolate withdrawal headache, so I thought I was home free. But then I realized I couldn’t think. I...
Rooted
I pass a parked car on my daily walks through the neighborhood and am always drawn to one of its window decals: an outline of the state of Montana with roots extending from the bottom. The owner of the vehicle must feel rooted in Montana, as I’ve tried to feel. I looked in a few stores for a similar decal so that I, too, could show what I considered my home. Alas, I was unable to find one. But now, it seems that would be an unnecessary accoutrement as we are poised to move on. We came here to be close to our daughter and her family, but her husband, having lost his federal job, is moving to the eastern part of the country. The East is where I’ve spent most of my life, my familiar stomping grounds, but how I will miss the beauty of Montana. I am in awe of this...
The Scent of Color
When eleven-year-old Hannah finished one of the songs she had practiced for her piano lesson, she pointed to a particular section in the musical score and said, “That measure sounds like yellow.” I looked quizzically at my granddaughter. “The music sounds like yellow?” She nodded and went on to explain that she and her younger brothers had been assigning colors to things. She gave the days of the week as an example. “Mondays are blue. Light blue.” “Interesting,” I said. “What else?” “Fridays are green.” “Green as in go?’ “Yes. Fridays are green…and skinny.” I gave her comments a lot of thought and then finally turned to Google to see what I could learn about senses triggering other senses. It’s an actual thing, called synesthesia. Webster defines it as a...
Water Rescue
I’ve never been a swimmer. Childhood swim lessons didn’t take, even with three tries. Sure, I learned to float and to tread water, but I could not—no matter how hard I tried—put my head under without holding my nose. I was told to take a deep breath, then exhale slowly while submerged, but I couldn’t get the slowly part. My breath would be gone in a second and then the water entered my nose unhindered, filling every cavity in my head and overwhelming me, not only with water, but with extreme fear. In other words, I panicked. Big time. My fears grew in my teens when I nearly drowned in the ocean. I’d dogpaddled out to a sandbar one day with no problem, but when I attempted it the next day, the tide was in, the water deeper, and I tired before reaching...
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