Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Tag: family
The White Binder
My brother had our parents’ stuff laid out like a well-organized garage sale with no price tags. Relatives were picking up and putting down my mother’s costume jewelry which was arranged in rows on the basement ping pong table. I found a locket that… Continue Reading “The White Binder”
Some Things Take a Long Time to Learn
The key to being able to truly feel gratitude is to want less and accept more. I say this, of course, after already having lived a life that has been abundant with many things but knowing that it’s possible and common to have great… Continue Reading “Some Things Take a Long Time to Learn”
Dreamlike
I pushed the button for the 14th floor, the tower suite. I got off the elevator and looked down at my feet. I was barefoot. This seemed crazy to me although I often go barefoot, not to meetings, though, never before had I been… Continue Reading “Dreamlike”
Walk Away
We had a red cocker spaniel named Rusty. We had this dog for a long time, from before I was born until I was nine or ten. And then she disappeared. My dad said she just walked off. She was very old, he said,… Continue Reading “Walk Away”
Prepare a Place for Me
There was only one reason why my father would be calling me. My mother must be dead. He explained how it happened, how just last week he had given up taking care of her at home, that for the third time, she’d gone limp… Continue Reading “Prepare a Place for Me”
Painting after a Funeral
I am tired from the painting and the funeral-going, the driving, the turnpikes, the rain in sheets, blinding us in the midst of giant, careening trucks, their drivers late for dinner, the turnpike shoulders taken up by construction, orange cones in blurry lines, relatives… Continue Reading “Painting after a Funeral”
Kathleen
Tall woman long coat Echoes of generations Sound in her greeting ________________ Photo by Anete Lūsiņa on Unsplash
Finding Them
We set out to find my husband’s parents’ graves. We hadn’t been back to the cemetery in suburban Chicago since his father’s death 12 years ago. So we drove there today, GPS’d our way to the cemetery’s gates and then parked in front of… Continue Reading “Finding Them”
The Gathering
When I am old and alone, if that’s how it turns out, one of the things I will miss most is the gathering at night. The kitchen light People talking over each other Plates set and cleared I wonder what will mark the close… Continue Reading “The Gathering”
Camping
A sentence I wrote six years ago seems even truer now. Those of you who are parents in complicated relationships with your adult children will get this. It took me a long time to get it but I finally did and I’m glad of… Continue Reading “Camping”
Listen to Jan read her essay “Billy” presented on WUWM’s Lake Effect.
Jan’s essay “At the Breakfast Bar” on WUWM Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “The Parish Hall,” on WUWM Lake Effect May 27, 2020
“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
