Saturday afternoon, I was out walking Scamp around the neighborhood when I heard this little girl shriek with delight. I turned my head, like you do, and that’s when I saw it: a young Dad, holding his daughter over his head, helping her fly. And just like that, I was her, that little girl, looking down at my strong Dad, laughing eyes filled with love. Then, in a blink of an eye, I remembered back to that morning, me sitting with my dad, now a confused old man with sad eyes. I’m holding his hand, and he’s saying, “I don’t know. I just don’t know what’s going on.” And I’m thinking, Neither do I Dad. …

Last weekend, we hung out with our cousins up to Claudette and Roger’s camp on Moose Megantic Lake. We try to do this once a year, just for the heck of it. Not all of us can make it, usually, but this year it was a full boat. What a hoot! Sure, some things have changed. Instead of talking about what we used to talk about (which honestly, I can’t quite remember what that was), we talk about retirement, grandchildren, and, if we’re lucky enough to still have them, our aging parents. We may even engage in an organ recital. That’s when we describe our aches and pains and replacement parts (new hip, knee or …

The other day, I noticed I had a missed call on my iphone from my sister Irene. So, I unlock the phone, see if she left a message, when I accidentally facetime her. Oops! I hang up before she answers because it’s first thing in the morning, and frankly, I’m not exactly looking my best. You know those movies where the woman wakes up all tousled and sexy? She rolls over and looks at the guy next to her. “Hi,” he says and flashes that killer grin. And she smiles back and murmurs, “Hi.” Not high on the scale of witty comebacks, but he seems to like it because guess who’s late for work that …

This week, my sister Irene and me were able to visit Dad together down to Mahoosuc Green. That hasn’t been allowed since this whole Covid thing began. Up until now, it’s been only two people at a time, and both from the same household. Because his roommate was in the dining room with his own visitors, we got to visit Dad in his room. Dad is always telling me he needs nail clippers. But when they give him some, he loses them. The nurses have a lot to do, and they don’t always have time to cut his nails the way he likes ‘em. So this time, I decided to bring some clippers, emery boards, …

Well, we just had our second Covid-Easter, but this one was more hopeful, right? It’s hard to believe that in a little over a year, we’d have a vaccine for this thing. (Three, actually, last I heard.) And more good news: Charlie and me are over halfway to being fully vaccinated. We get our second shot this Friday, and then two weeks later…well, I don’t know exactly what happens. I guess you could say we’ll be baked and ready to come out of the oven, gas gauges on full, our force fields up and lasers set to “stun!” Take that Covid-19! The regulations have changed some down to Mahoosuc Green, so yesterday Charlie and me …

Every house project takes at least two, three, four times longer than you think it’s going to. The box that says “all parts included” is lying. You dive into repairing that little bit of rot outside the front door and discover it’s the tip of the iceberg. And don’t even get me going on window treatments and paint chips! Experience has taught me that if Charlie’s going to be attempting one of these little chores, it’s best if I’m out of the house. So Saturday, when Charlie announced he was going to install our new bathroom blind, I called up my sister, Irene. We went for a window visit with dad down to Mahoosuc Green. …

“My mom’s memory is like a window opening and closing.” That’s what my co-worker Lisa said to me, a few years ago. I thought I knew what she meant, but I didn’t. Not really. Now, I get it. My dad is down to Mahoosuc Green, our senior living facility here in town. He bought in a few years after my mom died, and had the cutest little apartment in the independent living wing, Dirigo Way. But, a few months into lockdown, I got the call, “Ida, we feel your father’s no longer Dirigo Way material.” Ouch! I guess Dad needed a little more help with things. You know, like showering, cueing (reminding him when he’s …

I’ve been missing my mom a lot lately. Some of it has to do with the fact that it’s October, her birthday month. It’s also the anniversary of her death, in a couple of weeks. But it’s more than that. Missing is strange, isn’t it? I can go days or even weeks without thinking of my mom, then I see her handwriting on a recipe, and bang! There she is. Or I watch a little girl, all dolled up for her first day of school, holding her mom’s hand, and I think, “I miss you, Mom.” I used to get a little pang of envy whenever I’d see my friend Rita scoring a piece of …

I sure have missed yard sales this summer. You know, I miss going to them and I miss having them. ‘Cause as I’ve said before, if you go to a lot of yard sales, you gotta have a yard sale every now and then to get rid of the stuff you bought at the other yard sales. I miss catching up with folks, discovering treasures and dickering over prices. I miss turning clutter into cash. It’s never that much, of course, but it feels like found money. I’ve seen a few people braving it and doing a yard sale anyways, despite the global pandemic. Now, that’s hard core! But I haven’t been motivated to attend. …

This week, I got to see my dad in person for the first time in over a hundred days. Now that was a big deal. Luckily, they haven’t had any Covid-19 cases at Mahoosuc Green, our senior living facility. They’ve been smart about it and shut the place down early. Even packages of homemade goodies weren’t allowed. Still aren’t. And yes, I’d had a few window visits with dad, but those just made me more lonesome. Him, too, I think. I had to cat burgle myself through the shrubs to dad’s window and put my hands up to the glass so I could see him better. We weren’t allowed to open the window, of course, …