Mailing it in

Yesterday, I sent some mail that was long overdue. How overdue was it? One of the two envelopes I mailed contained correspondence I had first attempted to fax in early May. The documentation in question was an authorization for me…

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Get Organized

One of the many challenging things about living with me, for the few who’ve made the attempt, is that I am something of a packrat. Hoarder is the term of art these days, although in its true sense, this term…

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That Escalated Quickly

Today, I took my son on an escalator and broke down. To be clear, the escalator didn’t break down. I did. We were at the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, where we’re members, and he’d just seen the hippos and done…

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Pulling Hen’s Teeth

I called my dental insurance today and officially designated my chosen dental provider as my dental provider. It wasn’t a big thing, but it was a thing I needed to do and I did it today. The need arose because…

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Do the Extra Thing

My son Graham loves the bus. Specifically, he loves taking a variety of SEPTA’s Philadelphia city buses around the Roxborough neighborhood where we live, and to various points of interest across the city. He’s gotten adept at reading numbers and…

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Climbing the Ladder

Yesterday’s main elements for me – outside of a slow sloggy day at work that ultimately proved productive but took some real effort at self-motivation – combined plum-picking and a devastating migraine that sent me to bed early. It’s unusual,…

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Home Depot Away from Home

My father adored Home Depot. And Lowes. Perhaps more accurately, he always loved exactly one of them at a time, and whichever one it was alternated based on where he’d gotten especially favorable or unfavorable service last. He would be…

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It’s the Heart that Matters More

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen Counting Crows. It’s definitely the most I’ve seen any band and definitely more than ten shows, but beyond that, things get hazy. I could 100% rebuild an accurate count and while…

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Bed by Day

In winter I get up at night And dress by yellow candle-light. In summer, quite the other way, I have to go to bed by day. -Robert Louis Stevenson, Bed in Summer I’ve had debilitating migraines since I was ten…

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Picking Plums

I am really sorry for what I have just done I know that I could have tried more but it was really fun -A poem I wrote in English class in 1995, after This is Just to Say (William Carlos…

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