Forty one years ago, my in-laws named my husband David. I imagine they were very thoughtful about this name, weighing all the options and deciding that, after much consideration, “David” was their favorite name of all. It denotes a certain strength, it’s biblical, and, most importantly, not easily mangled. Or so they thought. When I [...]
The following conversation took place when Malcolm was six years old: M: Today at school some new kid told me my name was weird. Us: Oh honey, that must have hurt your feelings. What is this new child’s name? M: (sniffling) Torbin. In the courtroom of our kitchen we arrived at a judgment: Pot calling [...]
What is wrong with this picture? Can’t tell? Let me provide you with a little more context. I snapped this photo with my cell phone on Friday night as the hour approached midnight and my flight from SFO had just pulled up to the gate at PHL. The two dings had gone off and the [...]
For years, all the stuff that had no home went to live in the guest room. In the closets, under the bed, in the dresser drawers were things like my wedding dress, out-of-season clothing, scores of “Congratulations on your new baby!” cards, rattles, an ironing basket ignored for so long that the wrinkled shirts it contains were long [...]
Gentle readers: Today’s topic could make some of you cringe. And by “some of you” I mean Jennifer. And by “could” I mean maybe not. Jennifer has much more dignity and grace then I will ever muster, but she is by no means a prude. So we will see, won’t we? A web site was [...]
Malcolm has a friend who has braces, smiling his big silver grin with abandon. I said “So Mike, who is your orthodontist?” Mike gave me the name of the guy who has a practice in a charming stone house… located smack dab in the center of the middle school parking lot. I admire this orthodontist more than I can [...]
Yesterday afternoon there was a gypsy thunderstorm over my house. Gypsy because it didn’t stay long, only a few minutes, treating me to just a few quick flashes of light accompanied by a playful rumbling, and it was gone. It was almost a tease of what might be coming in the next few weeks, and [...]
When my brother Tom was in the Foreign Service, he ran across a file on someone whose visa application had been denied. A colleague had written LLPOF on the file. Tom: “Hey, what does LLPOF stand for?” Colleague (matter-of-factly) : “Liar, liar, pants on fire.” We have always gotten a kick out of this [...]
If you asked me to name the personal quality of which I am most proud, I would probably say that people can count on me. I rarely miss the boat, drop the ball, or pass the buck. If I tell you that I am going to do something, it gets done without reminders or prods [...]
When we moved to Rose Valley in the winter of 1995, we knew exactly nobody. Ian was 3, Hugh was six months old. Chris and I were still in a fog from the death of Hugh’s twin Graham, not to mention the stress of the move and the sleeplessness of the baby. Taking Ian to his [...]
