Forever the Precipice

When you are small and fear the monsters that you imagine are waiting under your bed, with luck, there is  a loving adult who shines a light on their non-existence and allays your fears so you can sleep. Life propels your forward through childhood to eventual adulthood with the requisite schooling and relationships, responsibilities, challenges and desires- resulting in the perpetual reality of managing uncertainty and risk. Little is more stress inducing than pregnancy and parenthood and babies who grow up to become teenagers whose actions can be an unending source of concern.

Now as the parent of young adults, the unknown floats up perpetually and in the absence of their presence, I have to have faith that our well being is not precarious and that with luck and our better angels, we will survive to see another day. 

Yet the inner turmoil wrought by worry can easily paralyze me.  Then I'm forced to accept the laundry list of unknowns, press ahead and appreciate that the abyss while ever present has been averted, at least for now.

Valentine's Day

(This post dates from 2011- from the "before times" when my ex and I were still married.) 

I have always loved Valentines day. Not the selling of it- but the opportunity to tell the people I care about how much I love them. Woke to the smell of coffee and in the kitchen found my sweet surprise from James. I'm in no mood for more baubles or chocolates- a little gesture of human kindness can go a long way.

Losses

My brother David and I circa 1970

There have been some notable losses in the pantheon of entertaining greats recently; Betty White, Bob Saget and Dwayne Hickman. I never watched either of Bob Saget's television shows- Full House and America's Funniest Home Videos. At the time I was enmeshed with small children and didn't need more cultural fare that spoke to the perils, pleasures and inanities of family life. But Dwayne Hickman made a huge impression on this child of the 60's. When he broke the fourth wall in Dobie Gillis and spoke to the camera- in the presence of Rodin's "The Thinker", a statue I knew well- I thought the degree of sophistication unparalleled for the wink of the narrator sharing his day to day tribulations of his high school existence.

In that half hour I witnessed an alternate reality of non-conforming with the understanding that I too could go "off script" if needed. Rest in Peace Dwayne Hickman and thank you for taking us all inside Dobie's world of adolescent angst that you created with such humor and grace.

Thankfulness

I began this personal narrative of mine a little over 11 years ago and reading back on my first years reminds me of earlier days where issues of motherhood occupied me with the daily concerns of raising three kids and keeping the whole enterprise of life rolling along. Now that my offspring are young adults themselves, I am in a different point on the continuum where my energies are best directed at obligations of work and self. Still, I reside in the house where three people were raised and two were born and so these walls team with memories of other days. 

On this Thanksgiving I feel grateful for the blessing of stability and well being, loved ones, friends and the grace and good fortune of living in this beautiful part of the world. Wishing you peace, health and optimism wherever life finds you today.

(from the archive) Halloween in the Hollow

When you live in a historic town, its cultural legacy is hard to avoid. This is the area where Washington Irving made his home called Sunnyside and his famous story, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" takes place here. Halloween in Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow is more than an evening of interesting costumes and trick or treaters gathering candy traipsing door to door by the light of carved pumpkins. It is a month long extravaganza of terror inducing hayrides, literary re-enanctments of spooky stories and the spectacles of haunted houses. Yes, it's one big commercial opportunity for local tourism which by October 31st has exhausted the interest of most everyone who lives here. So, when something at all unique is created, it is a treat for me. The members of the Hill and Dale Garden Club of Tarrytown decorated our local Historical Society this year and one of the tombstones was especially poignant and timely. A brief ode of sorts to another legend in a setting meant to inspire.

(I'm reposting this from October 30, 2011 and hope you enjoy!)