GERANIUMS

GERANIUMS

Today is Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. In honor of my ancestors, I’m grateful to have this short piece up at Complete Sentence.
REMEMBER YOUR TRAINING

REMEMBER YOUR TRAINING

When, not if, you get tossed out of your boat in a rapid on a river, don’t panic. Hang onto the boat if you can, and with or without the boat, assume the floating lounge chair position: feet up, knees bent, and head back. Ride out the rapid and then, in calmer water,...
I WRITE MEMOIR, PART I

I WRITE MEMOIR, PART I

In the third grade, I read The Little House in the Big Woods series of books. You could write about your own life—what a revelation! I wanted to do that. But also, a disappointment—my life wasn’t as interesting as Laura Ingalls Wilder’s. Mine was a normal life. Two...
SPEEDY

SPEEDY

The vet assures me our cat’s ill health is not my fault. Speedy, our thirteen-year-old tiger tabby, has lost over three pounds, has a urinary tract infection, bleeding gums, and failing kidneys. Cats are stoic, the vet continues, by the time you realize they are ill,...
A CHRISTMAS PAST

A CHRISTMAS PAST

What sticks in a child’s mind and survives into adulthood? What joy? What fear? What anger? Forty-five years ago, my mom’s extended family rented a large cabin in Big Bear for Christmas. There must have been at least twenty of us, pretty chaotic. It was the first...