It's taken me years to figure out why my mother never let me win at checkers, told me to fight my own battles and insisted on being unblinkingly honest.
All tagged Mom
All They Want For Christmas Is You
When I arrived, they were thrilled to see me in the way only your parents can be.
A Mother's Day Confession
My mother could climb trees, ice skate and walk miles in high heels. There was no way was I letting Superwoman get her hands on me with the worst kind of a confession: A belated one.
Take Your Vitamins. If You Must.
"You don't know what's in those things," my mother would say, pouring a cup of coffee and lighting another Pall Mall. "They can't be good for you."
Moms Give The Best Advice, Especially About The Heat
"Once people get air conditioning, they go inside and never come out," my mother used to say, sitting on a metal lawn chair in the yard, drinking iced tea and fanning herself.
Professional Gambler Deconstructs “Jeopardy!”
By Final Jeopardy Holzhauer’s usually so far ahead that his opponents are dialing for an Uber.
Safe Keeping
For years my father drove around with a beakless duck decoy on the back seat of his car, as he searched for a replacement part.
BOGO Medicine
My parents were going to a doc who advertised on a radio station that once aired a two-man comedy show that had amused my father in the 1970s.
Our Papa Puzzle
The only thing we know for sure about my grandfather is where he is. His remains are in a cemetery in South River, N.J.
Punctuality Was Always On Mom's Menu
In all the years I sat at my mother's table, I never remember anyone ever asking her for a recipe. The food was passable. The company was priceless.
That Ballerina Moment
I could feel the art lovers staring. Laughing, no doubt. Waiting to see if the old woman would get up or just lie there on the bike path and expire in the sun.