So far, my friend, Bob Deyan has been taken by ALS. My brother lost two of his best friends and fraternity brothers — John Conti and John Delserone to this disease. An old boyfriend’s mom, a sweet, smart woman everyone called Toots, passed away due to ALS. I’m sure you know people too. It seems like the worst diseases take only the nicest people. If there was a…
My brother just sent me a story from the Wall Street Journal about the Allen family from Pittsburgh, dealing with their first Christmas without their parents. It touched me because it could have been about our family. Their tree from the ’60s looked like a more attractive version of ours, and they had family traditions too. They made jello salads and barbecue ham sandwiches with homemade buns for…
My brother just sent me a story from the Wall Street Journal about the Allen family from Pittsburgh, dealing with their first Christmas without their parents. It touched me because it could have been about our family. Their tree from the ’60s looked like a more attractive version of ours, and they had family traditions too. They made jello salads and barbecue ham sandwiches with homemade buns for…
My long time friend Carolyn’s father passed away a few weeks ago and while I was telling him my final, tearful goodbye, I couldn’t help but notice what a nice casket he was in. I snapped out of it and got back to saying my goodbye to Mr. Riley, who always kindly made time for me and respected my family. And, I have to say, his casket was…
My dad’s death two years ago today left me with a visual I’ll never forget and a nagging question: Where will I be carried out? We’ll all be carried away from someplace, so where and how do I want to be living when they cart this worn-out carcass away? It’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately, because this apartment is not that place and I can’t help…
Ever experience something you don’t talk about much because you know people will look at you funny? For me, it was the night my mom visited — maybe 7 or 8 years ago. If you’ve been reading this blog for long, you’ll know that’s impossible because my mom died in 1992. However, when she was alive, she always said that after she died she was coming back as…