Back in Sarcoxie I stop to visit Maxine once more. I won’t see her again before I leave. I wish I had the energy to go down to the square again. I want more pictures. I want to people watch and absorb the atmosphere. I have ideas for blogs but…
I’m back in Sarcoxie. Again. Ugh. Chief Sarcoxie Days is a celebration, but of what? Obesity? Poverty? Hopelessness? Am I just used to everything new and bright and shiny so that here all I see is faded paint, burnt out lights and desperation? Maybe the worn out carnival is a…
As usual, it has taken me forever to make a book available to my legions of fans. Thank you for your patience. Writing and publishing are not only still in the experimental stages as far as my career goes, they are a mystery to me. This time I am trying…
Last spring at the coffee store where I’d been working for a couple of months, I noticed a regular customer named Justin. Tall, good-looking, polite. He always ordered the same thing, one of those sweet espresso beverages with whipped cream. One day my coworker Kristen said, “Do you know who…
Thursday is our last full day here. We’re going to lunch with the aunts on my mother’s side. Well, two of them. Martha is sick with a cold and can’t make it. First we drop off another load of donations at a crisis center in Carthage that Stacy told me about…
I lose track of time while I’m cleaning and sorting and before I know it it’s ten o’clock. I’m afraid I’ve missed the window of opportunity where Mom will know who we are if I’m not there by ten. We arrive at the home around ten-thirty a.m. which turns out…
Tuesday evening we were invited to my Aunt Rosemary’s for dinner by her daughter my cousin Janet, who is the only one of my cousins I sort of stay in touch with. Every year Janet sends me a Christmas letter which I receive sometime in mid- to late January. It…
It’s Wednesday. I’ve been here since Monday. I’m surrounded by things I don’t want to do. I have a headache. For the second day in a row the coffee I’ve made is horrible (even though it’s Starbucks coffee). It’s pouring down rain, lightning and thundering. Yesterday we went to see…
Downsizing living quarters is never easy. During the pre-transition, packing stage it’s a constant battle over what to keep and what to let go. Will I need it? Have I used it in the last six months? Did I even remember I had this? Many items, even ones I’ve had…
