Monthly Archives: December 2015

  I’m going to say it again – I’m more like Cruella de Vil and less like Diane Fosse. No one would ever accuse me of being overly kind to animals and although I really do love Fiona, Lauren says I am erratic in my behavior towards her. Apparently I am either super nice or so […]

I picked up Lauren from the airport last night. She had gone to the Army/Navy game with Laura and a group of bon vivants and ex-Navy dudes who go every year. They have their traditions: Capital Grill, barhopping, tailgating, shared hotel rooms and drunkenness. The usual behavior surrounding a big rivalry, once a year, football game. […]

  Ellie and I were having a text conversation, about what’s been going on since her dad died. She was talking about what her expectations had been – how she’d wished we would all get to know each other better – maybe even become a family. Ellie and I talk about a lot of things, but […]

  Not one, but five people sent me this joke… I do not know whether to be flattered, or offended. The last time this happened, it was another ribald joke about a woman, a bar, and a compromising situation… I guess old habits (and other people’s memories) die hard.   I apologize in advance for […]

The picture of isolation – the welcome mat is buried beneath the snow…   Last year at this time, I was living in a remote cabin in the Georgia mountains. One of those rough hewn places, with a wall-of-fieldstone great room people from Florida find charming for a short while… I was communicating with a […]

Sometimes the best thing to do is shut up and let the wisest person in the room speak. I have a 13 year old friend named Ellie who is one of the smartest, bravest people I know. Her dad Nick was also my friend, and the bond we shared and the runaway triumphs we achieved […]

Lauren says when I look at a group photo I only look at myself – everyone else can look like hunchbacks and I’m like, “GREAT photo!” But this is a good pic of Lauren and Kallie and me…   I was watching a video of myself giving a reading to a group of recovering alcoholics and […]

I don’t think I have particularly extreme emotional highs and lows. When I was drinking I would have a door-slamming moment where I went from normal Marilyn to scary Marilyn (my husband used to call me Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), but since I’ve been sober, I am pretty even-keeled. I don’t do that thing anymore […]

  Forest Gump said it best, “You never know what you’re gonna’ get…” Sometimes the cumulative effect of a single day will cause me to stop in my tracks and say aloud, “Come on – I’m trying really hard here. Give me a break…” This is almost always after a series of unfortunate events befall […]

That is God shining on me through the gnarled branches…   No really, I’m being tested. For the past few days my blog has been acting up and things are disappearing that used to be there and yesterday when I went to write a post, each key stroke had a two second delay like I was […]