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nyc with nana: this city, this moment
I can’t believe how fast time is flying by! We’ve had a crazy, fun-filled three days; but I’ve also been sick for the last three days, so my chronicling has suffered. Saturday was another day bursting with activity and new memories. In fact, it may have been a little too full of fun! We spent the morning in Central Park, wandering and people watching. When we came to the Carousel, I told Nana that riding the Central Park Carousel was on everybody’s Bucket List, whether they knew it or not. She agreed, and we bought our tickets and climbed aboard. What a Nana I have! She told me, “I do…
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nyc with nana: blue whale and back pain
Well, we seem to have maxed out our natural resources yesterday. Today was a slow start–even slower than yesterday–which was mostly my fault. (My 2 am blogapade wiped me out.) The weather, also was less cooperative today, and we chose to stay inside a bit longer while the rain blew sideways for a little while. By the time we ventured out, the rain had stopped (the humidity was still high, though–muggy, uggy), and Nana bravely agreed to attempt a subway ride. Here is the poem Nana wrote after her ride two stops uptown: “I do not like the underground, I do not like the sight, nor sound. I do not…
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nyc with nana: a new view
On Easter Sunday this year, my 76-year-old Nana and I decided we were going to take a trip to New York City together before the year was out. We sat down and made a plan, which was entirely centered around the Metropolitan Opera season schedule, and decided that we’d head to the Big Apple in October. Fast forward over six months, one AirBnB reservation, several touristy Groupons, and a generous contribution to United Airlines’ business endeavors, and suddenly, it’s October in NYC, and here we are. Honestly, it hadn’t even occurred to me to blog this adventure before today, but after the laughter we’ve shared, I realized I have to…
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crying in the bathroom: thoughts on grief
Throughout the day, I’ve been secretly crying at my desk or in a bathroom stall. And all day I’ve caught myself thinking, “You need to stop this. Get over the tears and do your job.” And only just now, in the quiet of my own home, has something occurred to me: I’ve been lying to myself all day. I don’t need to stop crying. Just the opposite, in fact. I need to cry right now. Grief needs to be felt! When it isn’t, when we stuff it away or shelve it behind “more important things” like a to-do list, what does it do but fester? Why are we as a…
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#worth1000words: The Ledge
Rumor had it that, in his younger days, Coleson Masters was a moonshiner, a racketeer, a man in cahoots with mobsters and hooligans. They said he spent a few years on the rails, and that he wasn’t a stranger to the strong arm of the law. He’d robbed, connived, beaten, lied, and, in all likelihood, killed. He was the type of sinner that even Jesus steered clear of. “Cuss and vinegar’s all that’s in his soul,†was the way Mama said it. And she knew better than anyone, as Coleson Masters was her daddy. Mama spent the better part of my life keeping us as far away from Coleson as…
