Magical Memoir Moments
Dora Dueck: A Memoirist’s Memoirist
I received an advance reader’s copy of this lovely book: When I first saw the cover of this book, which will be released on June 1, 2022, I couldn’t take my eyes off it. It looks topographical, both scientific and mysterious. It suggests far more than its spare language and amorphous images indicate. According to…
Make a Comforter. BE a Comforter. Comforters for Ukraine
My Grandma Sue Snyder Hershey, pictured on the left below, looked like this when I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s. My widowed great-grandmother, her mother, stands like the prow of a ship in front of her four adult children. I thought a lot about my grandmothers and great-grandmother as I was writing…
A Grand Spring Break: Portugal, Days 1-5
Here in Lisbon, tonight, we are putting up our feet in the hotel suite living room after a day of walking 15,000 steps. We have seen so many sites and listened to so many stories, it’s hard to choose a story to tell you, dear reader. We will be here two more days before flying…
The Big Sleepover: Five Nights and Six Days with a Nearly-Five-Year-Old
Last week Lydia stayed at our house while her parents took a week away to celebrate their anniversaries disrupted by Covid (#ten and #eleven) as well as the one coming up in May (#12). This was the first long sleepover for Lydia at our house. A few years ago, we did Grandparent Camp with Owen…
A New Website and Newsletter Look! Seeking Your Tweaks
My website was first set up in 2008 to be a place to house a blog called “100 Memoirs.” When my first book Blush: A Mennonite Girl Meets the Glittering World came out, I needed a different kind of website, an author’s version, to accommodate the various kinds of information prospective book buyers, reviewers, and…
Are You Bubbe, Zaide, Oma, Opa, Grandma, Grandpa? Paula Span Is Your Must-Read Journalist
Do you have a must-read journalist or columnist? I discovered mine in the pages of The New York Times. She specializes in some of my favorite subjects: the new old age, grandparenting and memoir. Her name is Paula Span. Her writing combines clarity, elegance and empathy. I love that she tells her own story as she…
Did You Go GaGa When You Became a Grandparent?
Way back in 2003, Donne (pronounced Donnie) Davis got a special invitation. Her pregnant daughter invited her to be present in the delivery room. When Donne tells the story of seeing her granddaughter emerge into the world from the body of the woman she herself had birthed, her eyes still glisten and her voice trembles….
Take Your Mother to Work Day: Episode Two
My mother and I tried one second-hand store in the 1960’s. It was dark, the clothing was not attractively presented, and we weren’t sure we wanted anyone to see us go in or out. Second-hand shopping simply meant you couldn’t afford new clothes. There was a stigma attached. Enter 2022. Every town has at least…
Take Your Mother to Work Day: Episode One
You’ve heard of Take Your Daughter to Work Day? Recently, I flipped the script and asked my daughter if she was up for Take Your Mother to Work Day. She was! But before we go to work, a story. Once upon a time there was a girl who loved to shop for clothes with her…
Grandparent Day — A Day of Rejoicing and Thanksgiving
Have you ever attended a Grandparents Day event as a child or adult? Perhaps on the second Sunday in September, the “official” Grandparent Day? Or maybe you have been invited to a grandchild’s school? Our Tulsa, OK, grandchildren, ages 10 and 9, invited us to attend Grandparent Days at their school recently. We were able…