I first posted this a year ago after the funeral of one of my very best friends. It’s hard to believe a year has passed. Even after this amount of time I find myself picking up the phone to t…

“No, no, no!” That tone of reprimand rang a bell for some reason. Behind me in the check-out line, a young mother wrested something from her toddler’s tight grip. “No, no, no!&#82…

Despite numerous hairpin curves, the small bus moved easily along the winding road. The driver expertly negotiated each twist and turn while juggling a small microphone into which he promised wonde…

Nannie would do it here, I think. “Snip” And probably right here. “Snip” This one could use it too. “Snip” With new clippers in hand I trimmed spent flower stems from sad looking rose bushes in the…

The tropical sun was intense but from the shade we sipped Pina Coladas and stared at the blue Caribbean. A vacation in the Dominican Republic! We staked claim to a favorite cabana and by afternoon …

I sipped the watery coffee and unwrapped my egg biscuit. Hitting the highway early and with another hour ahead of me, I’d pulled off to go through the drive-thru window of a lone fast-food place su…

While out walking yesterday evening I smelled sunscreen as someone passed by. In an instant I was mentally back on the beach waiting for cousins to come down from the house so we could get in the w…

We’d been lying in the shade together for quite a while. I was on my back, hands cupped behind my head, she on her side facing me. I talked about things bothering me at the time while she stared in…

He stopped at the curb to press the crosswalk button, casually swinging his briefcase as he checked both ways for traffic. Any second now he’d set the briefcase down to tie a shoe or adjust his jac…

Just a little announcement: I’m excited to let you know I have an essay appearing in the June issue of Virginia Living magazine! It was a thrill to work with the kind folks at the magazine again (I…

With a warm spring finally here and hotter weather to follow, a store near me has filled its seasonal section with all things summer. Though still April, I saw stacks of Fourth of July themed party…

“I wanted to tap my heels together three times in that bakery!” the woman said as she sat down beside me for the flight back home to Virginia. I glanced at her feet expecting ruby slippers. “Smell …

Mary Dell Grey, my good friend of nearly forty years, passed away last month. I was honored when her family asked me, along with family and several other close friends, to speak at her service. It ...

One of my best friends passed away. Over the years I've experienced the passing of people related to me and have attended quite a few funerals. I'm from a large family with an even larger extended ...