“I have not passed through fire and death to bandy words with a witless worm!”

So the other day I got an unexpected check in the mail, and I went out and squandered it on a food processor and a Dustbuster. The nineteen-year-old who still lives in my brain was appalled that this is what I would do with a hundred bucks because she would have bought some great shoes…

At the coffee shop, two young women who’ve recently completed their freshman year of college are comparing notes and talking about what they’ll be doing in the fall. Then they move on to a discussion about applying for study abroad programs that will take place in their junior year, and one of them says, “It’s…

The other night I had a dream that Jessica was lost, and though I kept calling for her, I knew she was never coming back. I hate this dream. Sometimes it goes away for a while, but it is never gone. In a few weeks Jessica undergoes more testing. In February when we scheduled the…

The first one comes in the fall of Jessica’s junior year, a letter from the admissions office of Kansas State University. I don’t immediately recognize what it is. Once I do, for a moment hope flaps its vain and tinsel wings. Maybe it’s true. Maybe my daughter can go to college, and get a great…

“I’ve been a little too depressing on my blog lately,” I said to my friend Diane the other night. We were eating tacos at Esquina, and trying to decide if they were as good as we remembered. “Huh,” said Diane, which meant something like You are not kidding, sister. “Maybe you should write about Greek…