Category: nostalgia

The Trees Are Coming! The Trees Are Coming!

We'll soon get one of these beauties! (photo from township manager) When we bought our suburban home--lo, those many years ago--it was the trees that sealed the deal. The wonderful mighty oaks on both sides of the street stretched toward the middle, forming a leafy canopy elegant enough to welcome a royal procession. For a … Continue reading The Trees Are Coming! The Trees Are Coming! →

Buzz Saw Ambivalence

The pounding in my head has been almost unbearable. Sporadic, fortunately, but I shudder from its power, reaching for a way to steady myself. Immediately following, moments of relative quiet, then the incessant buzzing—for seconds…then minutes…to an hour at a time. Our neighborhood is in the throes of a necessary but painful clearing of old trees. My mind doesn’t doubt the validity of the decision. My gut and heart feel otherwise.

Letter to a Dying Friend

My husband and I lost a decades-long, treasured friend in October, nearly two months after we first learned that he’d been hospitalized with a dire combination of heart, lung, and kidney failure. We’d spoken with him when he’d been moved to a care center, and he said then that he’d had enough—no more procedures, no more indignities....But he wasn’t as ready then as he’d thought. When he came home from the care center, he had some good time with his family. He told us he was spending most of the day out of bed, walking with a walker, and that his arms and legs were getting stronger.