Category: First course

My beloved grandmother died quite suddenly this evening. Thus, I am out of town for this upcoming week to travel west to support my aunt and celebrate this unbelievable woman’s life. I can only hope to be as independent as she was when I am her age–living in my own house, on my own, and…

A friend of mine in the restaurant industry says he has this unfounded fear: “When I unlock the doors, I am terrified that no one is going to show.” This will never happen to him, I am quite sure. I understand that momentary, almost paralyzing fear, however. For me, it’s a fear I have about…

Some days are just bad. They start out as horrible, they continue as awful, and they don’t stop pounding at you, even when you go to sleep that night, because you wake up two hours later and don’t sleep at all after that. Then it is 6 a.m. and you figure you might as well…

The subway is relatively quiet at this time of night–the time after the 4-to-8 p.m. rush, but before the post-arena crowd descends or the bars close, hours later. Most of us riding at this hour have worked well into the evening, and we are content to fold our arms and sink alone into our tired…

I was sure I was having a girl. That’s all we ever had in my family–girls. Turned out, he was the best baby boy in the world. I sang a made-up song to him to that effect. And I took him everywhere with me–to publishing clients, to editorial offices, to typesetting shops. He was the…

I am a sucker for an airport gift shop. What better way to fill the yawning hours pre-flight after disrobing in front of hundreds of strangers and emerging disheveled and hastily dressed on the other side of a TSA security area? An airport gift shop offers a quick look at what’s “local,” which usually involves…

You face a daunting week of several doubles and handling a couple of big-time events for the first time since you were hired. You are uneasy, uncertain. And totally on your own. You kind of freak out as you share these fears with a couple of friends who are likely becoming bored to tears by…

He really wasn’t that attractive. Cute enough, but maybe a decade too old. But he stood so close to me, I couldn’t help but inhale his subtle cologne. At first, he kept his distance, standing three inches away. By the next stop, however, his arm brushed my shoulder, and I as I turned to let…

When I receive notice of a ping back, I brace myself. Most times, I delete these odd ping backs from my blog’s comments because I don’t want to promote someone’s scented candle business–and such…. This morning however, I found an interesting site called “Post of the Week” linked to my post about finding my father.…