In the spring of 1975 when I was 22, my boyfriend Nick and I decided we would go to Europe after I graduated from college in June. (He was already finished with school and up for an adventure). The goal was to go for a year and the original plan (or at least the one…
Category: Flash Memoir
Repost of Flash Memoir: Lorene and The Bra
Meal time in my house when I was growing up centered on lunch, and the cook was not my mother, heaven forbid, or my father, though he could make an impressive breakfast, but rather our housekeeper, Lorene, a big-boned black woman who wore a white uniform to work, Monday – Friday, from 8:30 – 2:30….
An Interview – If Someone Asked Me About My Life
This was inspired by a writing prompt given by one of the colleges one of my students is applying to. It is not a thorough interview, just one aspect. 1) You have clearly done quite a few jobs in your life. Was that by design or did that just happen? I started out as a…
Post-Midnight Mass Christmas Party circa 1963
My parents hosted a Christmas party every year in the wee hours of Christmas morning after Midnight Mass at our tiny Holy Trinity Episcopal church in Bonham, Texas. This party was for all the church people and anyone else who happened to be awake and available for a party that began around 1 am on…
Flash Memoir Repost: Afternoons with Mr. Morgan
Mr. Morgan was a retired Episcopal priest who lived a few houses up from my family on East 9th Street in my hometown of Bonham, Texas. He and his wife, Anna, must have been in their 70’s when I was young. They both had white hair, and they walked with the stoop that comes with…
Milk Toast
When I was growing up my dad made me milk toast when I was sick. This consisted of two slices of toasted Mrs. Baird’s bread torn up and placed in a big bowl, then covered with warm milk sweetened with sugar. One pat of butter went on top to add a little extra richness. Milk…
A Memory of 9/11
Fourteen years ago on 9/11: 1) Ray and I didn’t allow our kids to go to school out of fear that there might be a Los Angeles attack. 2) Our whole family sat in bed and watched the news coverage that morning. 3) We were all stunned and horrified. 4) I kept expecting attacks in…
Flash Memoir: “Seeing” As A Child
We had dark red linoleum in our kitchen at 902 East 9th Street where I grew up. The pattern had little bricks with gray jagged mortar lines and the bricks were slightly raised, as they would have been if they had been real bricks. The color was almost burgundy, and my parents had that linoleum…
Childhood Refuges
I was a solitary little girl, who loved to nestle in the space between the Nandina bushes and the white picket fence in our backyard; bare toes digging into the loose North Texas black soil; bare arms serving as racetracks for doodlebugs in exploration. My dog, Bob, was my constant companion. He was middle-sized, black…
Repost: A Tribute to My Best Friend, RIP, on Her Birthday
Today is Patricia’s birthday and I think it’s appropriate to repost a blog I wrote about her a while back. To my beloved friend: My best friend growing up was Patricia Butler. I met her when I was three and she was four, when her family moved to my little town and began attending our…
20 Minutes a Day 