Where Did My Brain Go?

One of the consequences of aging, is watching your spouses and friends die. Their legacy includes two intangible, yet profound, objects: memories, and an empty space.
Both of these objects are permanent. Although memories fade, and empty spaces shrink, they still remain with us forever.
Birthdays are memories, and many cultures celebrate the birthdays of dead [...]

The sixth anniversary of the worst attack on American soil passed quietly. Too quietly for me.
Six years have gone by since Osama bin Laden allegedly masterminded attacks on The World Trade Center and Pentagon. Although The FBI lists Usama bin Laden (their spelling) as a Most Wanted Terrorist, he seems to have gotten away [...]

“I don’t know who I am, but you know life is for learning”, Joni Mitchell

It’s tough to describe the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival, which began on Friday, August 15th 1969, and ended Sunday, August 17th, 1969, because its greatest features were intangible. On the surface, there were a half million people, listening to music, [...]

Bruiser is my new pal. He belongs to my daughter Audrey, but I am borrowing him to get in shape. Bruiser likes to run, and he never complains about anything.
I need to get in better shape, because I plan to walk 13 miles in January, to raise money for
The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Bruiser is [...]

I just quit smoking for the zillionth and first time. I can’t stand it!
Make that zillionth and last – I can’t go through this again!
I know what it’s like. I know exactly what to expect. When I stop smoking cigarettes, I become cranky, fractious, irritable, nettlesome, peevish, peckish, pettish, petulant, scratchy, testy. Sleeping is difficult [...]

Jayne, aka Mom, would have been 54 today.
I met Jayne at Mickey’s Bar in Manhattan, on a Friday in November 1981. Mickey’s was a great place, in a great location, on the corner of Warren Street and Greenwich Avenue, back when TriBeCa felt like a small town.
We both liked going to Mickey’s, which catered [...]

I lost interest in school after eighth grade.
After ten hour days in private elementary school, my Dad went bankrupt, and I was forced to attend Midwood High School, a public school, with approximately 6000 students, in Brooklyn, New York.
Innocence Lost
I was a real goody two shoes back then, and I got a “job” working for [...]

It is a bright and breezy day in Lexington. The AC is off, and the screen door is open. After enjoying a nice lunch of tuna and plums, I settled on the couch to watch a rerun of my favorite television personality, Bear Grylls, trek through a Chilean rain forest. But I soon lost track [...]