Oh, Wow!
“Oh, wow!” she kept saying, in that breathless sort of wonder that can be heard only in the voice of youth and innocence. “Oh, wow!” Her tiny nose and hands pressed against one store window and then another. She pointed to counter after counter filled with candy. And then several displays of plastic eggs. And scenes of stuffed bunnies and yellow chicks and woven baskets of every size. Even a stack of nothing more than colorful socks caused her to express delight. “Oh, wow!” she said, again and again, as her tiptoes carried her from place to place, store to store, joy to joy. She is only two-and-a-half years old, […]
The Beautiful People Gala
In December of 1969, Melanie Safka released her song “Beautiful People” in recognition of the homeless population in the United States. The opening line of the song says it all: Beautiful people You live in the same world as I do But somehow I never noticed You before today I’m ashamed to say Homelessness is defined as lacking stable and appropriate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are living on the streets (primary homelessness); moving between temporary shelters, including houses of friends and family and emergency accommodation (secondary homelessness); or living in private boarding houses without a private bathroom or security of tenure (tertiary homelessness). The legal […]
Be Self-Confident
“My mother said to me, ‘If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.” Instead I was a painter, and I became Picasso.’” Pablo Picasso Growing up, I was fortunate to have a “cool mom.” She was, and still is, very generous and hospitable. She was always at events and parties, usually with food. We would come home with friends and she would have fresh-baked cookies, and cheese and cracker and fruit platters, all laid out for us. She would go with us to water parks, set up a “home base,” and let us wander the water park and […]
The Case for Chocolate
How is it mothers always know what’s going on behind their backs, especially when it’s something naughty? I loved sugar as a small child. When no one was looking, I’d get into the sugar bowl. There usually wasn’t much activity or supervision in the dining room, and the sugar bowl tempted me. I would use the spoon in the bowl to scoop up the sugar and put it in my mouth, and then wait in bliss while it slowly dissolved on my tongue. Evidently this was very naughty, and my mother always knew. It took me a long time to find out how. The spoon was sterling silver, a souvenir […]
