"Apologies fer not bein' 'ere at my reguhlar time, darlin', I's a gone to the doctor, ya see.  He's a nice, young 'Merican doctor, he axe me how you's doin' 'n I says you's good, spirit-wise.  Hoo, he just laughed, darlin', gotta real kick outta me 'n says, 'Scottie, you's a good sense 'bout all this, but how's she a doin' health-wise, ya know, is 'er mind still a wanderin' 'n all?' "

Abruptly, Marie's weak hand gripped the arm rest, so briefly, so faintly that no one except…

As my son pulled my right arm urgently, pleading with me in baby-speak to come with him, my left hand was squeezing hers, while my split-level brain tried to comprehend how things had gone downhill so fast.

"Don't you want to eat your dinner; aren't you hungry?"

Her age-worn skin resembled a Dali painting, and red blotches covered her arms, although she tried to cover them with the starchy hospital gown. "Ack, I don't like it. I'm not eating that."

I knew I was grasping…

She laid her head back against the lumpy, over-used pillow, trying not to think about how many people had died before her in this very same bed, on this very same pillow, sadly gazing at these same yellowed walls.

It was getting difficult to keep her eyes open; she could feel the weight of her body slipping away, but she wasn't afraid. No, she wasn't afraid anymore.

She knew what was coming, and if the medication she was on would allow for it, she'd salivate at the thought of…

Rachel called the lamb 'Menachim' (she told me when she was much older) because its fleece was as white as her grandfather's hair but because of the way she said it, or perhaps did not say it, I figured it was just because Menachim was an utterly gentle man. Moshe, Menachim's second son, who was a paratrooper and had a proudly fierce and utterly ungentle disposition, found the whole business highly offensive:

"Safta," he would complain to Menachim's mother, "how can you allow Ruchie…

We lie in bed, Saturday morning dawning upon us. My back is sore and my left arm aches, right down to the bone with what could be a sign of arthritis. My wife flips through the channels, pauses on an infomercial promising tight abs and sweaty workouts; the sweaty thirty-somethings smile, grimace as their bodies move to jittery seizures.“Do you…

During the night, even your feet are hot to the touch. You throw off the covers and turn on the ceiling fan, which in turn flings your heat to the corners of the room.

This is my secret source of income, you see, for while you sleep, I charge admission to strangers who want to witness the miracle of you.

"Lay-deeez and gennel-mun," I call from our front lawn under a quarter…

Sheets, white and rumpled, fitted to your every curve, your bent knee, your arm across your shoulder. Love when you move in your sleep, love watching the sheets conform like a second skin to your body. Sheets, when you turn to me and kiss me good morning, I can hear them rustle like wind through a wheat…

“Hey Mom, what did you decide to do with your day off from work?”

“You probably don’t really want to know (giggle, giggle).”

 …

I’ll gladly pop the zits you can’t reach on your back.

If you wanna miss a family function I’ll always take the flak.

Don’t mind if you pee with the door open or clip your nails in bed.

You still hold the moon if you gain a few pounds or grays sprout on your head.

Perhaps you don’t think you’re God’s gift but your his gift to me.

Don’t care if you fart when you laugh I’ll always love you, ‘till those…

He held her hand as her legs kicked out and she made barely coherent sounds. His eyes looked deeply into hers, perhaps seeking for who she once was. He fed her and lovingly cleaned her face.



She is stricken with the later stages of Huntington’s disease. Her husband, on Valentine’s Day, refused to sing along to Please Release Me.  I watched the two and fought back tears, tears of joy that this man truly loved his wife.…

The cars flashed through the woods, Jim hitting seventy-five, eighty--he'd almost done this kind of thing in his youth but never quite dared.  But now...now...the Chevy pulled alongside and together they dipped and swerved, his companions moving to within mere inches of him, the kid in the passengers' seat reaching a pale arm out the window, offering Jim a pint bottle.  Jim laughed and took it, expertly guiding his Honda through a sharp turn with one hand.  He whooped and raised the bottle…

Her heart shouts tachycardia while the rest of her body stiffens as her mind registers that Simon has just leaned towards her, resting his cheek on her left shoulder ever so lightly. Would putting my arm around him be too personal?

Instead, she reaches out for The Rodgers & Hammerstein DVD Collection, available used for $10, and flashes it in front of his eyes causing him to spring forward, his body emanating the energetic jubilation like that of a small child getting his…

July 2006 – Oskar wasn’t sure who he wanted to beat more: the male who brought the woman of his dreams, distraught and miserable, to his sofa crying on his lap because she couldn’t understand why he wasn’t returning her phone calls or emails; or, Claira because she was crying over some stranger, her ‘soul mate’, who she’d let get closer to her in two weeks than she’d let him in a year.

August 2008 – “How many days before she…

He puckered up his little lips and kissed me smack on the mouth, with a "mm-ah!" Then he laughed that belly laugh that only small children can make, where it comes from the bottom of their bellies, the kind of laughter that immediately makes you smile no matter what you were feeling just a moment before.

I couldn't help but laugh too, and he gave me a big toothy grin as a reward, before doing the same thing again, but this time with a "mm-ah-mama!"

It's in these rare moments of…

He left her for her because he realized that unlike her she was a friend who would love him, care for him, and give back all he gave.

"I noticed that fiver you dropped in my cup holder last night," he stated matter-of-factually as she was about to leave his car. 

She gave a coy smile, having been determined to give him gas money, and was about to close the door when he added, "Tomorrow we'll go out for a real adventure - Ed McKay in…

Just so we’re clear, the rest of them talk about Cornhuskers here like they were gods who built the spaceship, discovered the moon, and pissed on it, not merely to mark their territory but, more importantly, for world-wide domination which, by the way, is more important than growing crops and raising livestock to feed the world in this here country.…

My sweet girl, what can I tell you about heartbreak, about depression, about hurting so badly that you think you can't take anymore? Well, my darling, believe it or not, I can tell you a great deal about all of them, but also a great deal about how I came out on the other side; about how life is worth living, about finding the will to keep pushing until you get back to a good place.

I know at your age you think I don't understand, but you are much wiser than your years, and I think…

Bootsy Sykes’ latest romance was going well and, knock on wood and cross his love-scarred heart, this year he would have a date for New Year’s Eve.

Jessie Franks, head cashier at the Home Depot in Wetumpka, was not only a fair dancer and avid bass angler, hot dog, she got on well with his closest friends, the Shiners, and his Irish setter, Bear.  

Although Wetumpka was nowhere…

“Another bad day at work?”

“Yeah, and my boy, Andy, announced his retirement today, too.”

“Saw that and knew you’d be in a state of depression.”…