Ever since my retired Navy husband, Francis, went on terminal leave, I’ve been having some pretty weird dreams. Nowadays, some prefer to use the label “transition leave” because it sounds a little less like someone is about to die, but no matter whether one uses the ominous traditional term or the newfangled sugarcoated expression, both…
military
Shop, Drop, and Enroll
“Three decorative pillows or just two?” my daughter Anna asked in front of a colorful display of bedding at a local Homegoods store. It was 7:00pm, and we had been shopping since the stores opened that morning. The first place we stopped was the Apple Store, where I spent over a thousand bucks in less…
Yard Sale Booty Blues
“I’ll give you thirty bucks for all of it,” the man said in a heavy Rhode Island accent, gesturing to a table heaped with vintage toys from my childhood that I’d decided to sell at a recent neighborhood yard sale. “Are you kidding me?!” I blurted incredulously. “No way!” I continued, “I could get that…
Piped ashore, but still rocking
At 7:55 am Monday morning, the base loudspeakers blared the five-minute warning, alerting us to the upcoming daily broadcast of our National Anthem. I cracked an eyelid, squinting at the bright sun blasting persistently through our closed blinds. With a mop of tangled hair stuck to one side of my forehead, I heaved my torso…
What I believe about Hell and hand baskets