On his way off to work, he kissed me goodbye, then stopped to raise an eyebrow.

“You taste like tortilla chips,” he said suspiciously.

It was 9 a.m. Who eats tortilla chips for breakfast?

“I packed some in your lunch,” I said, pointing to the lunch pail he was carrying. “I ate the crumbs off the counter.” [Read more…]

Every holiday is different. Like the people we love, no two are quite the same. We can try to hang onto our traditions. I know I have. I bet you have, too. But the more we try to relive the past, the more life likes to laugh and say, “Sorry, that was then, this is now.”

Take this Thanksgiving. [Read more…]

One of my favorite things to do is to visit classrooms and talk with children about two of their favorite things — storytelling and writing.

I love doing that. But my latest visit to Forest Grove Elementary in Pacific Grove, Calif., was especially a pleasure — partly because of the teacher. [Read more…]

There’s been a lot of talk in the wake of the election about how “divided” we are as a nation and all the ways that we are different. I want to talk about some of the ways that we’re the same. [Read more…]

Twelve years ago, I was invited by friends to go to Los Angeles to celebrate New Year’s and attend services at a church in Watts. I’d been a widow for two years, and couldn’t recall the last time I’d celebrated New Year’s. So I said the magic word: Yes. [Read more…]

For more than 20 years, it has been my job and my privilege to write about life and whatever comes along. More or less. When asked how I keep finding things to write about, I say that part is easy. The hard part is staying alive and paying attention. If you stay alive and pay attention, like it or not, things will keep coming along. [Read more…]

This is not something I say often. Or ever, really. But I wish you could smell my kitchen.  [Read more…]

We trade a lot of messages, my sister and I, but sooner or later, we always manage to connect.
That hasn’t always been the case. She’s five years older than I am, just enough so when we were growing up, she wanted nothing to do with me. [Read more…]