Ray woke me up in Ojai this morning with the words, “I took Sammie outside and she pooped twice. She’s up and walking around.” “That’s great,” I said, “but we’re going to follow through with our plan. I can’t take another day of mourning like yesterday.” “Let’s just talk to the vet and see how…
Category: Memories
Reflections on Living, Dying and Our Little Dog, Sammie
This has been a strange day indeed. We went to the vet this morning with our Scottish terrier, Sammie, only to get the diagnosis we feared: a cancerous mass in her belly and another on her lung. No pain now, but pain would be coming very soon. I was prepared to allow the vet to…
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…
Off to See Where the Famous Are Buried
Today my cousin, his wife and I went to Westwood Village Memorial Park at 1218 Glendon Avenue in Westwood to see the cemetery where many Hollywood stars are buried. The most famous is Marilyn Monroe. Below are tombstones of a few people who are familiar to most of us. It’s a great small cemetery directly…
Daughter Rachael: Off on Her New Adventure
Dear Rachael, I know you are moving to your new home this weekend and starting law school soon; however, please remember that no matter what you do or how old you get, you’ll always be my baby. The picture below was taken 21 years ago this month. I love how we are giving each other…
The Wisdom of Letting Go
I have had the occasion over the past few days to talk to several people who are in pain. In one case, a parent is worried about an adult child who is having serious issues; in another, a friend is worried about another friend who is terminally ill. Worry is the operative word here. Worry…
Off to Make a Difference
My daughter, Liz, and her boyfriend, Ron, left today for a ten day vacation to Alaska. The twist on this story is that they are not going to Anchorage to hang out and relax; they’re going to help build a house for Habitat for Humanity. I am proud of these two, who are using their vacation…
Rich Versus Poor, What Makes the Real Difference?
Sometimes money is not what it’s cracked up to be. I have met some of the poorest rich people and some of the richest poor people. The key seems to be to have an external focus. Self absorption does not a lovely person make. An example of a poverty-stricken rich man was someone I had…
Beethoven at the Hollywood Bowl
We were lucky enough to be invited by our neighbor, Linda Homer, to the Hollywood Bowl tonight for a picnic and then a whole evening of Beethoven performed by the LA Phil. Linda had three extra tickets so we invited our daughter Rachael to join us, as well. The seats were close to the front…
A Reprieve from Near Death
A few years back, my husband and I were traveling from California to Texas, and I was pulling a 1958 Buick on a trailer behind our 15-passenger Ford Van. This was my husband’s idea of love at first sight – that ’58 Buick – a car from his birth year that he hoped to restore…
20 Minutes a Day 