notquiteold

Nancy Roman

Category Archives: Memories

Stuck

I have finished the first draft of my new novel. Yea for me! It is off at the editor’s and now I am stuck. Stuck between that story and whatever come next. Because I can’t quite shake that story. I’m still in there. The story is set in 1968 and the main character is a …

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Not Scary

A few nights ago, I drove by a building I used to know. I’ve been by that building hundreds of times, but not at night. The darkness made all the difference. I worked there. At night. It was my first job after college. I guess it was a terrible job, but it took me six …

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We Are Different

A few months ago, I wrote about my upcoming 50th high school reunion (Using And Losing Time). I was anticipating the event with both pleasure and anxiety. I was looking forward to seeing old friends again. But I worried that I had not been as ‘successful’ as I would have wished. That I wasted too …

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The Escape

Years ago, a close friend asked me for advice on her workplace issue. She worked in a very small office – I think the staff totaled no more than five. She had very little in common with any of her co-workers. She was unhappy and had tried various methods to improve her relationships with the …

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Where I Ought To Be

I have a memory that keeps repeating in my brain. It was the summer of 1979. I was 28, and I had been working for the past three years at a research organization at the lowest possible rung that existed in that organization or perhaps any organization. I had a college degree in English, but …

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Margaret

Yesterday, I remembered a woman I met in the Fall of 1969. At the time, I was under the delusion that I was going to be a nurse. My mother was a nurse and I wanted to be like her. She had her doubts but she and my dad supported my decision to go to …

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How Much

When I was a kid, I used to play this game when I watched TV. Sometimes I played with my sisters, but mostly I just played it alone. The game was: How Much. How Much was played during commercials. Bad commercials. Example: A commercial with a woman with huge armpit stains. She gets in an …

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What You Can Learn

Well, here it is again. Another birthday. I’m now 68. How in the world did that happen? In some ways, being 68 is scary. But overall, it’s not so bad. My father lived to 88. My mother is still gracing this world with her lovely presence at 95. So I figure I probably still have …

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Not So Scary

I went to Zumba this week – how I love to dance away a few calories – although I probably need to Zumba about fifteen hours a day for the next month to make an impact on Christmas cookies. The class is conducted as a separate entity inside a very nice and busy workout gym. …

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Sweet Girls

Last year on this date, I wrote about a little girl who made me feel a little better about myself at a time I was hurt and vulnerable. (A Lesson In Shame) So today, I thought it would be appropriate to write about another childhood friend. When I was fifteen, my family moved across town. …

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