On Tuesday I drove the twins to their middle school so they could clean out their lockers. This was the last time they would be on campus as students since they’re moving on to high school in the fall. I pulled into a faculty parking spot, and they climbed out of the car, wearing face … Continue reading Bittersweet

When my sister and I were little our parents introduced us to a fairy named Penelope. She was about the size of a thimble, with translucent wings and a flower crown atop her tiny head. She appeared exclusively at mealtimes to helpfully sweep up the crumbs that fell beneath the table or clear our plates … Continue reading Fairy (God)Mother

Photo by Liam Read on Unsplash My subconscious is a weird place to visit these days. Like everyone else on the planet my interrupted nights are a whirling, swirling Dali-esque dreamscape. My family has just landed at JFK, returning to the States from some unknown place, when Harlan vanishes. I race through the terminals in a rush of … Continue reading Funhouse

Photo by Mike Labrum on Unsplash In January 2001, six months after getting married, Harlan and I moved from SF to NYC and settled into a 400 square foot apartment in the East Village. Our shoebox of a home had views of the Empire State Building to the north and the World Trade Center to the south. On … Continue reading Part Of The Club

Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels It’s taken some time to adjust to life under quarantine. After almost five weeks I think I’m finally  getting the hang of it. For the first week or 10 days I spent countless hours scrolling through news feeds in order to try to wrap my head around what was happening. I … Continue reading Loose Ends

Photo by Romi Yusardi on Unsplash Last Saturday Harlan and I took our dog for a hike in the hills of San Anselmo. The wide fire road allowed us to keep the requisite six feet of distance between ourselves and the other hikers, while we enjoyed the stunning views of San Francisco Bay. I was in my happy … Continue reading There’s Nothing Sexy About A Global Pandemic

Image by Raw2Jpeg from Pixabay I went grocery shopping on Friday, the last time I would be in a public space for awhile, while wearing disposable gloves and a face mask. No one else in the store was decked out like me. I felt a little self conscious, but what can you do? With everything shutting down and … Continue reading The Gift Of Uncertainty

Photo by John Gibbons on Unsplash A few nights ago I prepared some gluten free potstickers for dinner. I had been craving them for days and was looking forward to savoring their chewy, crunchy goodness. While they were frying in the pan I checked the fridge for tamari…and things went south. We were all out. I could have … Continue reading Maximizer

Image by Giacomo Zanni from Pixabay Over the past 6 1/2 years I’ve had a lot of feelings about the roller coaster of my health, including confusion, hopelessness, grief and fear. You can read more about that here. Only recently have I realized how much anger there is as well. On a macro level I’m angry about how … Continue reading Anger Management

“May I be healthy. May I be at ease. May I make wise choices. May I avoid blame.” I silently repeated these words as I sat with a few hundred other meditators in the main hall at Spirit Rock, an insight meditation center in West Marin. I’ve attended weekly women’s groups, several daylong workshops and … Continue reading Intention