We’ve lived in our house for almost ten years now, and in all that time, there has been a clock on the wall in the living room. We hung it above one of the bookcases, and came to depend upon it. Like many people’s houses…

Some illnesses are dramatically visible, and they can embarrass us. “Don’t stare,” we’re taught. Others are less visible. There are good things about having an invisible illness. If you try really hard you can fake it, and other people may think you’re just fine. Take…

I love pie. I love the whole idea of pie. I love watching movies with scenes that take place in diners where big guys come in and order a slice of pecan or meringue pie with a cup of joe. I love the idea of…

Here’s the weird thing about being hospitalized, as I was a couple of months ago. Someone else cleans up after you. This sounds like heaven to most women, but I found it a bit uncomfortable after the first few days. Of course, if you’re in…

A few weeks ago, I bought a new purse. There are women who do this every month, regarding their handbags as just another thing they wear. This has always struck me as weird, since I like to keep my hands free (for handshaking, if not…

Bonnie is my only sibling, older than me by eight years. Yet I have always felt like the big sister, because my IQ is normal, and hers hovers around 70. Anyone in the psychology or social work field knows what that means – she’s qualified…

Lately I’ve been missing my aunts and uncles. A few are still alive – two widowed aunts, living out their dementia-fogged days in assisted living, and one matched set, the aunt a nurse, the uncle my mother’s younger brother. He, too, is in the grip…

My daughter – my firstborn – just celebrated another birthday. We gave her presents (even her brother, if you count a Facebook Farmville goose a real present), and I cooked her favorite lasagna from scratch, and although we did not sing “Happy Birthday,” I did…

At long last, I am back from the hospital. I was away for twenty-three days, eighteen of them as an inpatient. People who entered the Head Pain Unit the same time as me left before I did, making me feel like the train was leaving…

This column comes to you from my bed. People are talking quietly in the hallway. Some overcast light comes in my window, whose sill is stacked with books, DVDs, and chocolates. If I want anything, all I have to do is press a button and…

Sometimes, words fail me. I’ve just seen a movie – one of the contenders for Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards – and I don’t know how to describe it. Well, I can think of lots of words. It’s brilliant, searing, moving, suspenseful, captivating.…

I love cloudy days. The greyer the better, and if those clouds began disbursing their rain or snow, all the more cause for rejoicing. I know there is an actual mental health disorder that makes many people depressed when deprived of sunlight – such as…

I am not a big shopper. I’m not one of those women who consider cruising the mall an indoor sport, and I shudder when the pantry gets bare and it’s time for another foray to Food Land. Most of the time, it’s a necessary evil,…

I cannot live without candy. I know this is lame, especially since some famous guy said the same thing about books, which are much more serious and important. But that’s the thing. Candy is fun, and in these dark days (of winter, recession, underwear bombers…

I’m a poet. I write poetry, I read poetry, I have a master of fine arts in writing poetry. My husband even introduces me, every so often, as a poet. Words are important to me – not only what they mean, but their rhythm, how…

Ah, January. The eggnog is gone, the presents are in use, the undecorated tree is waiting by the curb to be hauled away. Situated pleasantly apart from the mania that begins with Halloween and decelerates with Christmas, this first month of the year seems so…

December is the perfect month to be a Doozer. If you remember “Fraggle Rock,” you’ll recall the Doozers. These cute little creatures went about their industrious way, oblivious to the dramas of the larger, fuzzier Fraggles. Doozers were always at work, wearing tiny hardhats, driving…

As I stood on a stool at work today, I started thinking about Mary Todd Lincoln. She was the same height as me, and I wonder how often she had to drag a stepladder over to retrieve a book from a shelf or grab a…

I finally got myself a Facebook page. It’s not difficult, and doesn’t cost a cent. If you don’t have one yet, I can wait while you get signed up. Back so soon? You must be kidding. Because, as my pal Jason wrote after I friended…

Looking through your high school yearbook can be a dangerous thing. If you wrote a poem that’s featured in its opening pages, and your best friend, Gail, wrote all over the book to you, and boys you hardly remember wrote really sweet messages to your…