“Welcome to Peacock Perch.” The sales lady said to Santa and Mrs. Claus. “Here are the keys to your new home.” When the sales lady left, Santa and Mrs. Claus looked around their new home and each other. “This is gonna be an adjustment,” Santa said, uncertain. Clad in a red collared Hawaiian shirt withContinue reading “Florida Santa”
Category Archives: 55 plus
Mira filled another empty cardboard box, labeled it clothes and heaped it on the lowest pile among a forest of stacks. For a week, she had been cleaning out the home of a lonely woman who passed away without any family or friends. Boxing up the kitchenware, clothing and personal belongings of this mystery woman,Continue reading
Attention to Detail
To Carolyn, being single was both a gift and a burden. She hated sharing absolutely every space 24/7, feeling suffocated and trapped, but she liked having someone to cheer good days and help cry in her wine on bad ones. And while she enjoyed the freedom of not having to constantly compromise, she missed someoneContinue reading “Attention to Detail”
The Light of the Moon
It was late one night and I took my dog out for her final business of the day. I waited as she did her usual search for the perfect blade of grass to drench. It was pitch dark everywhere. The only light was the blue hued glow of the nearly full moon out that night.Continue reading “The Light of the Moon”
I Remember It Well
Suzy and Red sat together on the couch of their family’s home, surveying the “keep” pile, deciding what to take to their new condo in an assisted living center. At the age of 88, they were both healthy but needed a facility that could take care of any medical issues that arose. But they wereContinue reading “I Remember It Well”
Check Yourself
Jennifer’s world was getting too hard to live in. Day after day, the state of life’s problems were too much burden to bear. Lying awake every night staring at the ceiling, her mind raced. When she came to work one day wearing a suit jacket and pajama pants, clutching the coffee pot like a lifeline,Continue reading “Check Yourself”
Weird, Wild and Wonderful
I love to travel to Key West. It’s an eclectic place that fosters the last bastion of true bohemianism. It’s weird, wild and wonderful. Every bar looks as though either Jimmy Buffet or a pirate are the proprietors. Dogs sit inside beside their owners on a stool with a bowl of water. They are allContinue reading “Weird, Wild and Wonderful”
The Duel with Alexa
Technology can be both blessing and beast. There are so many new things to learn, it can be intimidating. But I choose to think each technological improvement helps our lives. Where would be without the internet or cell phones? They have made life easier. And so began my duel with an electronic minx called Alexa.Continue reading “The Duel with Alexa”
Sixth Stage
Eve sat alone looking around her empty house. It was deafeningly quiet. In the year since her husband died, it had been a whirlwind of must dos. She went through every stage they say and busily performed all the never-ending diligence tasks to punctuate the paperwork end of someone’s life. Now she confronted the last stage—toContinue reading “Sixth Stage”
Happiness is NOT a Warm RV
In a pandemic world of limited safe travel, two girlfriends and I decided to take an RV trip to visit another friend a few states away who was isolated, depressed and in need of a boost. With the best intentions, we rented a small RV to minimize contact with the outside world. It was theContinue reading “Happiness is NOT a Warm RV”