My uncle Al, diagnosed with diabetes, coming to our house for Thanksgiving dinner with his new prosthesis, and giving me the frosting off his cake because he wasn't supposed to have it.

my first bicycle,  only bicycle, actually, which I got when I was ten and rode until I was fifteen.

working at a local resort the year I left college,  for 50 cents an hour (plus tips,  yeah right),  and being dragooned into extra duty with the other waitresses as window…

It's been snowing here for upwards of  15 days;  not a lot at a time,  and now and then a sun the color of pale egg yolks makes enough shadows to let us think it's over;  but the snow keeps falling.  Not much wind yet, which is a blessing; this is a village of one story bungalows and one story storage sheds, some so low you have to duck to walk inside;  in some places the snow has risen to just under the window sills, which from the inside make it look as if the houses were sinking rather…

Quiet, now.

With the wind stilled at last.

Even the owls have ceased their incessant calling.

Reluctantly, I drift off to dreamless sleep.

Tell me when the sun comes up.

You never liked a late sleeper anyway.

Grace

I always said that when Skips died, he was the last dog  I'd  be having;  he died two weeks ago, and I buried him in the back yard beside the others.   This morning my daughter showed  up at the door with a  half-grown mongrel pup,  half legs and  the other two-thirds ears, all wag and pant.  I looked at the dog, and the dog looked back: "Her name is Grace, " my daughter said.

"You don't play fair, I said to both of them, and my daughter just smiled.  Grace…

Getting to know you...

 One day Dad and I looked at one another and realized we were looking at strangers. We had managed to raise four kids, endless numbers of foster children, adopted a few of them, and now they were all gone and we were left in our own company for the first time in forty years.  Since the last one left we had been arguing, picking fights, getting on one another's nerves;  after talking it over we decided it might be time to just split up…

Testament

We all know at some point I'm going to die, but the kids refuse to discuss it.; tell me I'm rushing things.  Well, I'm 84, and far from rushing anything, I'm just facing the truth that sooner or later I'm going to die, probably sooner, the way things are going,  and it would go easier on them if we could talk about this now, easy like.

My granddaughter Bekka is the only one who gets this;  we have already picked out the funeral home,  the plot, made a list of…

You know, I love my kids as much as  any man could, and to be fair they're very good to me; but now and then I wish they'd give me some personal time too.   They got me a computer so we could 'keep in touch".  Give me something to do, they said, but I'm too damn busy to bother with it. Then they bought  me a cell phone so we could be in constant contact. Turns out  the buttons are so small I can't even read them and my hands are too big to hit the right ones... 

After it fell…

The day I fell over the dog I made the mistake of telling my daughter-in-law, because it was funny.  Two days later Home Health  was at my door.  Then  Meals on Wheels called to ask when would be a good time to deliver my first lunch.

I shooed the nurse and her blood pressure cuff out the door. I told  Meals on Wheels  "when I want meals, I'll let you know, " and hung up on them.  Then I called my son.

The Widow

After Harry died it was pretty quiet around here for about a week;  then the phone started ringing, and almost every call was from some old friend of the family, either mine or Harry's,  wanting to take me out, have me over for dinner (and it was pretty clear who was the dessert), or just wanted to talk dirty.  I was polite, but not interested.

Actually I thought it was funny, though   my daughter and her husband were shocked, wanted to call…

1.  Sit on the running board of an old pickup truck.

2.  Roller skate on a sidewalk.

3.  Ride on daddy's lap and "steer the car".

4.  Play hopscotch.

5.   Fire a cap pistol.

6.   Have a lemonade stand.