• How Not to Ruin a Perfectly Good Retirement

    How Not to Ruin a Perfectly Good Retirement

    Ted and Joan sit on their immaculately maintained backyard deck, wearing their designer shades and sun hats and sipping iced tea from tall frosted glasses. Lounging on the kind of posh outdoor furniture featured in home and garden magazines, they watch as a team of landscapers re-mulches their flowerbeds, prunes their trees, manicures their lush Read more

  • The Gentle Art of Waving to Neighbors

    The Gentle Art of Waving to Neighbors

    Morning arrives at Lakeside Manors. I step into my athletic shoes, put on my sunglasses, and fail, as I often do, to comb my hair. Then I’m out my front door for a vigorous walk before I start my day. On the streets surrounding my house, I see others. Some, like me, are out for Read more

  • ‘I’m Nobody.’ You Too?

    ‘I’m Nobody.’ You Too?

    One of the most interesting tidbits to emerge from my recent dabbling in genealogy is the revelation that Emily Dickinson is my sixth cousin. A few times removed, yes, but we’re cousins, nevertheless. Now that I’ve made this discovery, I feel as if my life finally makes sense. It makes sense that I spent all those hours Read more

  • Am I Just Painting This Old Wagon Blue?

    Am I Just Painting This Old Wagon Blue?

    I don’t remember if I taught him the song or if he taught it to me. But one summer, Grandpap Swayne and I sang, Little red wagon painted blue…, as we played dominoes, painted by numbers, and watched cartoons on TV. When I was a child, Mother and I traveled from our home in Richmond, Virginia, to Read more

  • My Father’s Heart

    My Father’s Heart

    During the final year of his life, my father did everything right. By following a strict diet, he lost weight. He exercised daily and avoided stress. He rekindled the romance in his marriage. He looked and seemed to feel healthy. Then one summer morning, a neighbor discovered him lying unconscious on the ground in our Read more

  • I Just Met My Sister, and Now We’re on a Road Trip Together

    I Just Met My Sister, and Now We’re on a Road Trip Together

    My sister drives confidently over the rollercoaster hills and hairpin curves along the road through Cameron. She’s a born West Virginian. The town clings to a slope of the Allegheny range’s shamrock green mountains. Its thousand or so inhabitants shelter themselves in humble houses perched on rough ridges or squatting in ravines. We are here to visit Read more


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Do you write about yourself and your experiences? Do you write about traumatic events in your life? Or, do you struggle to find time and motivation to write?

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