I was twenty-one and sobbed after reading Thornton Wilder’s play, Our Town. It’s about Emily, a young woman who dies in childbirth and is allowed to go back and relive one day of her life. She chooses her twelfth birthday. Her fellow dead citizens in the town’s cemetery warn her not to go. It’s never […]
My memories of Provincetown are like a series of snapshots that begin when I’m five. Its 1961. I’m walking on the wharf with my father. The water looks black and deep and oily. I’m afraid, wondering what it would be like to fall in. But he holds my hand tightly and I feel safe. That […]
I swallow hard, trying to work up courage. My car sits in the garage and I take the passenger seat, feeling like I’m climbing onto an unsafe carnival ride. I look to my seventeen year-old son who’s driving and make sure my seat belt’s fastened. “Okay, let’s go,” I say, trying to sound chipper. Patrick […]
Today I had my annual eye exam, the least intrusive of all check-ups. (Yes, I rank them). But even this once benign routine has turned high-tech and threatening. What used to be a quick look to see if I need stronger contacts now involves a strange, whirring machine inspecting deep inside my retina. What used to […]
No, I’m not talking race, religion, or politics. But I am talking about a difference so pervasive, so challenging, so disturbing that at times we’ve wondered if our relationship could stand it. Randy’s a pack rat. I’m a purger. While my husband has never met a piece of junk mail he doesn’t like, I patrol […]
I have an idea for a new reality show like Survivor. It’s called Motherhood. In this show, the contestant must spend one week alone in a home with two children. There can be no school, babysitters, or help of any kind. The contestant must provide food, clothing, baths, sleep, and entertainment twenty-four hours a day for […]
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