Souvenirs

life

  • Les Etudes

    “Courage, Nicholas,” I tell him, “You have what it takes.” “No worries,” I say to my student who forgot his online tutoring lesson. “Pas de probléme. I’ve had five seniors. I know what that looks like.” And I did and… Continue reading

  • Dearie

    She had the last word, after all. Researching my paternal grandmother–my step-grandmother, actually, as my father’s mother died of breast cancer when I was only one–I came across the crowning glory of her life. For some women, it is children.… Continue reading

  • Travels with Mommy, Part I

    I am happy to report that the tricks and trades of the budget traveler still work out there, and I have discovered one more: the panini check. Like a coat check. But involving a left-over sandwich. Our story begins on… Continue reading

  • The Shake Down

    She’s standing there with a knife in her hands, shaking it at me she’s so angry. Tense moment #567 in the span of so many throughout this impossible situation, though most of them not involving weapons. “It doesn’t work that… Continue reading

  • The Harvest

    I think I roasted the squash just for spite. Or a distraction—something else to gripe about, something to take her mind off the many things I hadn’t done right in the short time I was there. Too much tomato in… Continue reading