FAMILY

What Can You Do?

Back to another beau, who could say words backwards and so can I, except someone once stumped me in the Say This Backwards game with “onomatopoeia.”

I’m Fine! . . . What, not Great?

I can’t remember why I was only fine, rather than the usual great, but this makes an important point:

IN SEARCH OF JOLLY GEORGE: OUR FAMILY GLOSSARY

If our family were contestants on a TV know-your-family game show, and the emcee were to ask, “Who is least likely to be a pest?” we would all shout “Emy!” The rest of us can be annoying, not least of all yours truly, but never Emy. When my three daughters were …

INFINITY

I’m trying to figure out how many future unborn generations I should worry about. Down to my great grandchildren seems reasonable. But if I care about them, shouldn’t I care about their children and grandchildren and so forth? There is no end. It’s like one of those photographs of someone …

STAR LIGHT STAR BRIGHT

This may sound cockeyed but–without a religious streak strong enough to be sure prayers get answered–I feel doomed to a lifetime of worry. Yet I spring to action each evening when the stars show up. I realize, of course, that if I tell you my nightly wish on a star, …

Asking God For Things

A worrywart can benefit from a connection to God. If I believed prayers were answered, I wouldn’t need to worry anymore. Even though I’m an agnostic, I consider my relationship with God a pretty good one. Like those halfway-decent, parallel-play marriages between two independent sorts, God and I go into …