BETWEEN BUSINESS CARDS - A help-yourself-while-I-stumble-through blog

Bound to Look Good

My daughter Kristen and I recently went shopping for undergarments. As we walked into Macy’s, I asked the young woman at the perfume counter, “Where do you keep your intimates?”…

Burning Down the House: A Lesson in Generosity and Persistence

In the 1920s, my father’s parents sharecropped land they rented from wealthy landowners in Delaware. My grandmother worked as the cook in the main houses. She was short and strong.…

Finding Christmas

We weren’t prepared for missing Christmas. It was an unseasonably mild December. A wintry mix of sleet and rain started early Christmas Eve morning, turning our yard into ice-crusted soggy…

Waiting for Light

Christmas is coming! On our childhood farm, not unlike hunting season’s opening day, my mother declared the beginning of the Christmas season. It launched with housework. Nestled among over a…

Pretty Girl

I met Ashley after she moved into her new digs in Brooklyn. Our daughter, Claire, lives in the same multi-story building — three floors up a marble and wrought iron…

Palm Reader

“Give me your hand. Let me see what is in your future.” My mother was a devout Catholic. Ironically, she also loved to read palms — mystical future telling carried…

Dazed and Confused

One of the joys of living at the beach is bearing witness to the permanence of the ocean. Its continual reaching towards the shore. Its mood changes from serene to…

Holy Dirt

“Be careful with the words you release from your tongue. They cannot be put back.” My mouth burning from a habanero-laced pistachio, I nodded politely but didn’t really listen. The…

Tears and Tiaras

I didn’t realize that taking my high school guidance counselor’s advice would lead to one of my biggest embarrassments. In the fall of senior year, he suggested I broaden participation…

Courage At 0.5 MPH

Courage at 0.5 MPH I’m a retired physician and empty nester. Basically, a woman with degrees, hot flashes, and a deep commitment to self-deprecation. Wanting to write essays about life’s…

Finders Keepers

My childhood home was a one-story, white-shingled farmhouse nestled in the middle of corn and soybean fields. Typical of homes built in the early 1900s, it was long on charm…

Lemonade and Pearls

One long summer day, a string of fake pearls turned into a lesson on kindness. My dad was a fair, practical man, with a great sense of humor and a…

Tears and Tiaras

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I didn’t realize that taking my high school guidance counselor’s advice would lead to one of my biggest embarrassments. In the fall of senior year, he suggested I broaden participation in extracurricular activities to strengthen my college application. My goal was to become a physician. Considerably outside of my comfort zone, I entered the 1974 Smyrna-Clayton Junior Miss pageant. There were five competition categories: Judges’ Interview, Poise and Appearance, Physical Fitness, Scholastic Achievement, and Talent. Each portion required a different outfit and a specific skill set. Mom took me shopping and found a beautiful sky-blue gown with glittering sequins on the J.C. Penney sale rack. A discounted one-piece black jumper…

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