One thing I wanted to do when I was in New York City last month was visit the National September 11 Memorial, which opened in 2011. I made reservations for myself and a group of friends and it was literally our first destination once we all arrived at the hotel. The weather was appropriately dark and drizzly. As the four of us somberly made our way to Ground Zero and then through the security stations, we really had no idea how stunning (in so many ways) the memorial would be. It’s huge. I mean, it’s supposed to be huge, because it’s set in the footprints of the Twin Towers, and…
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Bonus, Indeed.
When my maternal grandparents passed away within two years of each other, I was still in elementary school. Obviously life happens: nobody can plan when it’s supposed to end. (I’m not even sure if anyone would want to plan the timing of that milestone.) Those of us who are left behind usually say things like, “I wish she were still living” or “He died way too soon” or, as if to justify feeling robbed of more time, “Only the good die young.” All I knew as a young girl was that I was going to miss my grandparents terribly, and I have. Lucky for my sister and me, Marilyn and…
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Memory
The last couple of days has been really, really difficult for my family, my sister and me in particular. First, click here to read what’s been going on. My sister already wrote about it and I figure there’s no need for me to rehash it here. Seriously. Go read that before continuing. On our way home Monday, we were discussing how odd it is that M, our elderly loved one, has a hard time with her short-term memory (she asks the same questions over and over), but she can remember the strangest little things, like how her daughter-in-law always loved fruit compote, or this: When I graduated from high school…
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Plagiarized.
No, *I* didn’t do it. Someone else did. I found out today that someone grabbed my old Blogspot url, activated the feed, and copied and pasted six of my old posts (words AND pictures) there under the name Diana Reneina. The sidebar is full of text link ads. I am beyond annoyed about this. At first I was kicking myself for deleting the Blogspot url, figuring I should have kept it. Truth be told, though, anyone could post any of my stuff on any site. I found out that my old feed from my old url was showing up in Google Reader for those people who never physically unsubscribed to…
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A Gift Called Wanda
Having worked in a salon for seven years, I’ve had the opportunity to become friendly with many people whom I never would have otherwise met. It’s always a pleasure to see a regular client arrive for her weekly (or bi-weekly) appointment, and over the years I learn so much about their private lives: their family, friends, what makes them happy, what ticks them off…all kinds of things. These clients become a part of the salon’s fabric. Each of us has our own favorite clients. There are a few clients, however, who are on everyone’s list. Margy was one of them. I wrote about Margy when she passed away three years…