A catalog of the stuff in my apartment
If you ever want to give yourself a flashback to the early weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic (maybe you’re a masochist, how should I know), I recommend washing your hands while singing the “Happy Birthday” song twice through. Remember that? Sometimes the customs of just a few years ago can feel like they belong to […]
Earlier this year I met a reader of this blog who told me my work reminded him of Erma Bombeck. Since I hardly ever write about my experiences as a harried suburban mom, I assume what the reader meant is that he finds me funny. Or maybe witty, which is what you call a funny […]
The apartment building where I live always thinks it’s on fire. The alarms seem to go off at least once every couple months, sometimes more. And then all the residents have to evacuate yet again and stand around out front until a screaming fire truck arrives and an official confirms that the place is not, […]
These days I really only drink alcohol when I’m out of town. Course, I’m a travel journalist, so my habits hardly qualify me for the Temperance League. And okay, fine, sometimes, even when I’m not out of town, I’ll imbibe at social functions. Fortunately for my liver, I attend as few of those as possible. […]
If the set dresser for the movie of my life had the gall to decorate the coffee table belonging to my celluloid self with the actual books actually sitting on my actual coffee table, I think I’d accuse the production’s art department of homophobia. The books are: A little on the nose, don’t you think? […]
I’ve been attending Pride parades since the early 2000s. That amounts to a quarter century’s worth of June Sundays spent standing around in the hot sun and squinting at go-go boys on floats. To tell you the truth, I have never exactly found the spectacle riveting. I don’t blame the LGBTQ+ community. Time and again […]
I find it jarring when my parents or sisters stop using products I grew up with. What is a family, in the end, but the group of people you share your brand loyalties with? It feels weird when that sacred contract gets broken. At some point after I left home, for example, my mother switched […]
I brought a sweater to a wedding I attended in El Salvador last year. I didn’t plan to wear the thing at the ceremony or reception, of course, but to one of the auxiliary events—a dinner on a beach. I figured the sweater would be appropriate since it’s made of relatively porous material and has […]
Mirror, mirror on the wall,Who has pores that aren’t small? That’s what I think to myself when I peer into the mirror mounted next to the sink in the bathroom. It’s one of those magnifying mirrors that supply a close-up look at your face to aid in personal grooming and to hurt your feelings. The […]
When my husband, Frank, works from home, he sits at a round table in a corner of the bedroom. His computer monitor points right at the bathroom door, so whenever he’s on a video call and I have to pee, I’m supposed to hold it until he’s finished so that his coworkers won’t see me […]
Indirect Objects 