The Birthday Dinner that Wasn’t
My granddaughter just turned two. Her parents and my husband and I planned a pizza and cupcake dinner at our apartment to celebrate—complete with gifts and singing, of course. Unfortunately, midday on the Big Day my daughter texted that the birthday girl had vomited. With toddlers, one never knows if stomach upsets are a fluke […]
Covid . . . The Rest of the Story (I Hope)
I wrote last week about getting Covid after four years of apparently avoiding it. Unfortunately, Covid is the gift that keeps on giving. My husband and I first tested positive on January 10. I’d had a scratchy throat for a day or two, and he had been coughing a bit, but we both felt pretty […]
Covid, At Last . . . And Other Woes
In my January 3 post, I mentioned the possibility that life would throw more roadblocks in the way than I foresaw. Well, I didn’t have to wait long. My husband and I tested positive for Covid on January 10. Neither of us has been terribly sick, and I went on Paxlovid immediately (he takes too […]
A Childhood Epizootic
In these days of the coronavirus, every cough and every ache or pain makes us fearful. At least, that’s how I’m feeling these days. Spring is coming regardless of the pandemic, and I try to take solace in the warmer days, the brilliant sunshine, the greening of trees and lawns. But sometimes my thoughts take darker […]
A Pox on Chickenpox (Part 1)
My kids were born several years before the chickenpox vaccine was available. The measles/mumps/rubella vaccine existed, and I dutifully had them inoculated with the MMR shot at the appropriate age. But all we could do was wait to see if they got exposed to the chickenpox. I remembered the chickenpox from my own childhood. When […]
Sick Days in Retirement: If a Woman Sneezes at Home, Does Anyone Hear?
This is a self-pity post. I’ve had a cold or the flu for the last week, and I’ve been miserable. If the news reports of the flu epidemic are true, then many other people out there are sick also, and many are sicker than I am. But at the moment, I’m pitying myself, not others. […]
Parenting the Parents: On Being a Sounding Board
August 1979, thirty-five years ago this month, was the first time I felt I was more of an adult than my parents. After my husband and I graduated from law school and took the bar exam, he had to go on his two weeks’ annual training with the Naval Reserves, and I went to visit […]
In Sickness and in Health
I had planned to write a family story for today’s post, but life has a way of changing one’s plans. My husband and I spent the last week nursing each other through gastroenteritis. Al came down with it first, and for two days I made him tea, toast, and chicken soup. His reaction to stomach […]