Author Archive: Nancy
Teacher
I never really expected to reinvent myself at seventy. After all, it took me over sixty years to like myself the way I am. And yet, here I am, trying all sorts of new stuff and being all sorts of new people. A new/old role for me: Teacher. Old – because I was a teacher …
Bossy
I haven’t written for a while. I’ve been trying to decide what to write about going back to work after five years of retirement. But now I’ve decided – I love it. I wasn’t bored in my retirement. I write. I paint. I play with my dogs and cats. I belong to more than one …
Having Lost My Mind
I have now been retired for five years. I love being retired. I love living my life exactly as I wish. No schedule. No deadlines. No bosses. And now I have done it. Or un-done it. Lost my senses. I’ve un-retired. I saw a posting for a part-time bookkeeper at my local library. And all …
Unedited
I have a writer friend. Like many of my writer friends, I don’t truly know her. She’s a professional acquaintance. I like her. But mostly because I like writers. I don’t even remember how we became friends – or, more accurately, internet acquaintances. But it was many years ago. Maybe our first books came out …
Oversharing
Today at the drugstore, the kid at the cash register was one of those Oversharers. You know the type. Most often, it is an older person. Maybe lives alone. Maybe lonely. The old lady at the supermarket who starts by asking you about the pickles you are buying, and ends up telling you about her …
Old Poetry
When I was a teenager, I wrote a lot of poetry. Some of it was good – I won a few awards. But most of it was typical adolescent mediocrity. Life is never more unfair or more glorious than when you are seventeen. Most of it didn’t survive. I remember only orphan lines. They come …
Not Having Children
(I wrote this essay twenty years ago. I published it here for the first time six years ago. This Mother’s Day, I share it again.) *** I married when I was forty. It was amazing at that age how many people asked me if we were going to have children. No, I’d say, We’re not …
Ghosted
I just spent all day writing a long piece on the end of a friendship. I decided not to post it. Because I realize that after 1500 words, what I wanted to say wasn’t there. Here is a short version. A year ago, a friend ghosted me. She broke dates, stopped calling, stopped returning my …
More Lessons From My Phone
Well, last week I bitched commented about how the interior design game I chose for my new phone wouldn’t let me win. I took a positive attitude, describing how it was teaching me worthwhile lessons about whether to please myself or please others. But in truth, I was pretty pissed disillusioned. I am here today …
Winning The Game
You know how we translate age for dogs and cats? Like “Old Jasper is 82 in dog years…” Well, if there is not an age-equivalency term for electronic equipment, there should be. Maybe we could call it nano-years. “This old phone?… It’s 107 in nano-years” – which in human chronological terms means: it’s three. So on to the …
