I really intended to stay up all night to watch the meteor shower. But it’s after 10 o’clock and I was falling asleep out there, on a breezy deck in an Adirondack chair with a blanket wrapped around me, watching the billion stars. But I saw one. I saw one just as I was ready to … read more Day 37: Even One
Author: Lisa
Day 36: Birthday gifts
I cannot remember a single birthday gift that I gave my dad. I know I gave him gifts, and I didn’t give him ties because he didn’t have that kind of job – he was a plumber. I know there were some years when I didn’t give him anything, because he insisted he didn’t need … read more Day 36: Birthday gifts
Day 35: Powering down
When we were driving to the Cleveland airport yesterday, the traffic signals were out for miles and miles along the lake road. It was a bit spooky, but everyone was driving more cautiously. At intersections, people simply took turns, unregulated by police or lights. When I got back to Atlanta, Tom’s car battery was dead, … read more Day 35: Powering down
Day 34: The last time I left home
I left Ohio many times, physically and mentally, before I left for good in 1984. But I always knew I would leave. Maybe it started when I was very little. I used to play along the banks of the creek that ran through our front yard, and built imaginary villages from twigs, leaves, moss, and … read more Day 34: The last time I left home
Day 33: Bookworm feast
My sister Ann and I are born bookworms. If it were allowed, we would move into the library – any library – and just live there, eating books. One of the things we really love about our annual Ohio pilgrimages is that our ancestry research takes us into two beautiful old Carnegie libraries – in … read more Day 33: Bookworm feast
Day 32: Ticket to ride
I used to think that Cedar Point was a made-up name for the amusement park, and a strange one at that. Really, it doesn’t sound like it would be fun, the way that “Disneyland” did. No: Cedar Point was simply the name of a place, long before it was a company and a destination for … read more Day 32: Ticket to ride
Day 31: Oldest of friends
Today was another first: I got to play Trivial Pursuit with two people who have known me for more than 40 years. I lost. But what a fun way to lose. One of the two was my oldest sister, Ann, who is among the very select group of people who can say she has known … read more Day 31: Oldest of friends
Day 30: If I live to be 97
The phrase has been running daily in my head for the past month: “If I live to be 100…” Until recently it was simply a hyperbolic expression of the impossible, along the lines of “If I had a nickel for every time that…” It didn’t seem that living to be 100 could be possible. Or … read more Day 30: If I live to be 97
Day 29: A gathering in court
One Friday morning in March, a group of 20 men appeared before a judge in the Huron County courtroom. They were foreigners, part of a recent wave of immigrants who had rushed in seeking steady work and the possibility of a buying their own land and home. A new president had just been inaugurated, promising … read more Day 29: A gathering in court
Day 28: Class of ’77
We called ourselves The Crew, by virtue of one of those stories that were very funny in high school but which would take far too long to tell in a blog post and wouldn’t be funny to anyone but us, anyhow. I’m not even sure how the six of us became friends: Barb, Bill, John, … read more Day 28: Class of ’77