Mirror, mirror
My mother was only 69 when my father died and she had just retired from her 30-year teaching career in a Philadelphia Friends school. Their marriage had been difficult because my father was difficult. He was charismatic, narcissistic, handsome, and charming— and a philanderer. He was also a…
“Oooh, here’s another one!”
My sister Shelley was going to her first high school prom and she had to ask a boy to go with her. It was one of the drawbacks of going to a girls’ school in the 1950s. We didn’t know many boys and those we grew up with…
Cardinal Event
Many years ago, when I was a young, single mother, I took my daughters, Jennifer and Meredith, on an ambitious road trip from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to Booth Bay Harbor, Maine — a 15-hour, 930-mile drive. It was August, 1976, and Jennifer was nine and Meredith was six.…
The beginning: Jacques’ Castle
My first trip to France with John was not long after we met and he asked me to go to Paris for New Year’s, an invitation he didn’t need to repeat. I loved Paris; I was 16 years old, an exchange student, when it became my favorite city…
Chercher la maison
Our weeklong class for artists in September went off well. After this, our fourth trip, we were even more seduced by the Périgord’s grey-green valleys; softly eroded yellow limestone cliffs; wide sinuous rivers; gently rolling farmland; and its slow pace of life. The following year, in the late…