Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Tag: friendship
So Many Candles
I had a friend who was a priest when he was young. He almost never talked about having been a priest. When I met him, he had a wife and three sons. He didn’t seem the least bit holy, not like some people who… Continue Reading “So Many Candles”
Race Day
I still have the shirt, bright pink with Danskin 2007 Women’s Triathlon on the front and a slew of company logos on the back. My friend, Karen, has probably tossed hers, that’s how she is, totally unsentimental, not into mementos or false glory. After… Continue Reading “Race Day”
Book Mark
When my friends’ son died by suicide, I bought them a book. I can remember standing in a bookstore near the San Diego harbor, pulling book after book off the shelf, looking for just the right one that would speak to my friends’ terrible… Continue Reading “Book Mark”
Correspondence
I’m going to write my friend a letterOn paper, with inkIndelible which means It could last foreverFolded in thirds and stored in the pages of a favorite bookHe might show his children my letter I’ll tell him how I’m feelingIn ways that will stand… Continue Reading “Correspondence”
Sallie’s Funeral
I went to Sallie’s funeral today. It was in a very old Episcopal church downtown, the kind where you need to leave your coat on because the heat, what there is of it, will rise to the very top of the vaulted ceiling and… Continue Reading “Sallie’s Funeral”
New Girl Aboard
Two nights ago I had a dream about being on a ship that was sinking. I was in the ship’s movie theater, sitting in a velvet seat, watching I don’t remember what, and the ship’s sirens went off (I’ve never heard a ship’s sirens… Continue Reading “New Girl Aboard”
The Tiny Bird in the Bush
To get out of the sun while waiting for my husband to buy our baseball tickets, I sit on the curb in the shade of a very large bush. The Arizona sun is glaring and hot, even this early in the spring, and, after… Continue Reading “The Tiny Bird in the Bush”
Book Mark
When my friends’ son died by suicide, I bought them a book. I can remember standing in a bookstore near the San Diego harbor, pulling book after book off the shelf, looking for just the right one that would speak to my friends’ terrible… Continue Reading “Book Mark”
Old Friends
Some things people say turn out to be true. Forty years ago, my friend shouted out to me from her office, “Don’t you think we’ll know each other forever?” It was said like confetti, a joyful thought thrown into the air, and it rained… Continue Reading “Old Friends”
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
