family

Until high school, I only cut my hair twice per year: the start of the school year and during the Christmas holiday break. As a result, I often had long,…

Music has always been important to me. One cash birthday gift was used to buy a small, console AM/FM mono radio. For another birthday I received a bright red Panasonic…

After our parents' divorce, Christmases were split: even years in Iowa with Mom, odd years with Dad in New York and then North Carolina. Unfairly to Mom, we enjoyed Dad…

Rye Playland is an amusement park conveniently close to my grandparent's home in Westport, CT, an easy and inexpensive place to take the grandchildren. Even though we only went a…

In September 1970, my parents bought their first house in Brooklyn just before I started kindergarten. I don't believe we immediately moved - child-proofing was likely required, or perhaps even…

[Those whom know me and my dislike of dogs understand the irony in writing about puppies. If that bothers you, just focus on the personal side of the story as…

Mom and her boyfriend, Tom, held a yard sale to substantially slim down what was moving to Iowa with us. At some point, she left to pick Courtney and me…

Most divorces, no matter how contentious, are not often interesting from a legal perspective. However, my parents' divorce was unusual in that it wound its way all the way to…

Sixth grade marked my entry into middle school at my rural Iowa school district with a multitude of changes: new classmates from the other elementary school; subject-specific teachers; a regimented…

For April Fools' Day, my first grade teacher at PS 20 Brooklyn, Mrs. Fox, to prank our mothers by saying There's a hole in your panty hose. April Fools! Being…