On things I never used to know
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Jessica’s Story
I wrote this essay five years ago, when I first discovered the story that Jessica tells herself about her life–apropos of last week’s post on the most important story you’ll ever tell. *** “Where is your scar, Mama?” Jessica asks as she brushes her short brown hair. We’re in the bathroom. I elbow her out…
A conversation with . . . Jennifer?
Find me over at my colleague Denise Schipani’s blog today. The conversation may be with me but you can imagine who we’re talking about!
Building houses
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how life can make you question everything you believe. I quoted Rebecca, a reader who said, “With the initial wound of the TSC [tuberous sclerosis complex] diagnosis still fresh for us, I have shied away from examining any belief. Because, frankly, anything I have ever believed about this…
On using a knife and fork
Jessica’s last day of school is really just a last morning of school, so when I pick her up, the whole day stretches ahead of us. “How about lunch in Lawrence?” I say. “Yes.” She is without hesitation. Jessica is a girl who likes lunch. “Where?” “Let’s go to Encore,” I say. “They have those…
On the last days of summer
_________________________________ It is a beautiful late-summer Saturday, warm enough for sandals and T-shirts but not too hot. The sky is blue with fat clouds that look as if they were painted on a china plate. Jessica and I are running errands, and she is scheduled to go bowling with a parks-and-recreation group in forty minutes,…
On how to see
I am doing an in-person interview because the editor who has hired me to write the piece I’m working on prefers her writers to do in-person interviews. This is important only because while I understand the point—it helps build rapport with someone you are about to ask a bunch of very personal questions—I am thinking…