Living with a parent as an older adult is not like having a roommate. You may have retired from a successful career and lived as a full-grown, self-sufficient adult, your “roomie” is still your momma, and, in her eyes, you are still 8 years old. Conversations with Momma could be enlightening, challenging, infuriating, and awkward – often simultaneously. Any sentence that began...
The Boys were up for a visit. The other night, they fell asleep on the sofa. Knowing that Mom was tired and her arthritis was kicking her, I offered to help get them to bed. My attempts to rouse the 6-year-old were an epic failure. He wouldn’t budge and fought every attempt to wake him. Mother nudged me aside and said, “That’s OK. Here’s what you need to do. I used to do this with you and your...
The daughter of an old Hollywood family had a beautiful tradition for her birthday. She would call her mother to thank her for being her mother. What a wonderful idea! I started a similar tradition. I sent my mother flowers or a plant that evokes childhood or special memories. Today, it was a basket of gardenias. When I grew up, there was a gardenia bush outside my bedroom window. During the...
When we celebrated my nephew’s seventh birthday, I wasn’t keen on the idea of him turning six the year before. Despite my angst, I realized that there was nothing I could do about his turning seven. There we were, celebrating getting another year older. He was all excited with the attention, especially with the presents. When asked if he wanted to open presents first or have the cake first...
My name is Gerry, pronounced with a hard “G.” Mother wanted a non-traditional name for her son - something different. For better or worse, different is what she got.