Category: family
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A Day of Decadence
As I age I am in a quandary about how or if to celebrate my birthday. The answer varies for each individual, and depending on one’s mood, th answer may change from one year to the next until, by the time a person reaches triple digits, celebrating in some way is mandatory! A sudden realization,…
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Baby Boom Déjà vu and the Future
As a member of the baby boomer generation, I was an infant in Mom’s arms in the early 1950s when babies ruled the world – at least in the United States. My parents moved to a new house in a new suburb on Long Island, New York, in 1952. Every house sheltered a twenty- or…
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WINTER WONDERLAND YESTERDAY AND TODAY
“Daddy, can we go outside?” Sydney pleads for the hundredth time. “Can’t we go outside? I wanna play in the snow. I wanna ride my sled.” After numerous “no’s,” Dad finally relents, “OK, let’s go out!” Sydney runs over and pulls on Grandma’s sweater. “Gramma, Gramma, you come too?” Grandma rolls her eyes and responds…
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A One-Ply Guy and His Two-Ply Wife
My husband Steve grew up in a one-ply household. Satisfied with the product, he did not realize better-quality alternatives existed until later in life. My upbringing taught me to bargain hunt and, if possible, avoid paying retail. Mom purchased products based on her weekly coupon stash. My sister and I knew not to pick up…
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I am a high-rise newbie
I drive up to the building’s entrance, grab my pocketbook and purchases from the back seat, and enter the apartment house I now call home. A parking attendant takes my place in the driver’s seat and steers my car into the garage. If there are too many bags to carry the doorman piles my things…
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Memories in Boxes and Shopping Bags
Photo albums and high school yearbook My sister walked in my house this week laden with boxes and shopping bags full of stuff. Classify the stuff collectables, mementos, souvenirs, or what the items actually are – a life’s legacy. Pictures, most of them photos in frames, costume jewelry, photo albums, plaques, and miscellaneous, uncategorized items.…
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Farewell to Amusement Parks
Confession: I love my kids and grandkids but cannot keep up with them. Cold winter days have become a pleasurable season as I hunker under my quilt and don’t feel any guilt, steeped in a good book or TV series. Summer is jam-packed with physical activities synonymous with heat, ice cream, water, playdays, vacay days, outdoorsy…
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Delightful Diversions in Troubled Times
Skip to the third paragraph (after italics) to avoid my current events rant. The world is a scary place now, but the world is scary someplace all the time. For those of us living in the United States, we have been blessed with minimal upheaval throughout our lives. But our world grows scarier day by…
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Happy Birthday Dad
Disclosure: This post rambles from birthday memories to historical tidbits, then current political division. When a kid, June 14th meant cake, ice cream, and an enthusiastic, loud rendition in my family’s discordant, cacophonous voice of Happy Birthday. No one in my family could carry a tune, obviously an inherited deficiency. But we all loved our cake…
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Goodbye Mom
My Mom passed away this week at the age of 100. Here are some memories I shared at her funeral. Rose Mandel and Sam Shilowitz welcomed baby girl Elyss Shirley on January 2, 1925. Her father Sam bought a two-story building on Main Street in Cedarhurst, Long Island, and opened a general store. The family…