Vet Visit
I am one of the most over insured people on the planet, believing that if something can go wrong, it will. So after I got Saffron settled in my home office, I called the 800 number for Veterinary Pet Insurance. VPI had previously insured my cats with policies I...
Introductions
Saffron let out a plaintiff meow after I parked the car, so I poked a finger through the carrier door to give him a little scratch. “It’s OK, baby,” I crooned in my best cat mommy voice. Little did he realize that he was about to meet Odie, a supercharged orange tabby...
Coming Home
The story of how Saffron ran away is long and tragic, but here’s the short version: Once upon a time he lived in a spacious townhouse in the suburbs with a back patio, a high fence where he could sit and survey his kingdom, and a huge hill behind the townhouse which...
The Look Challenge
Maya’s 19-year-old heart was keeping Fernando alive but as I held him I realized in a new, deeper way that Maya herself was never coming back.
Reunion
On Saturday morning, I drove to Mary’s house. As I wound up the hills behind the Claremont Golf Course, one amazing vista after another unspooled in my rear view mirror. I gripped the steering wheel to calm myself, my head full of fears about what lay ahead mixed...
A Miracle
I could not believe my ears. “Your cat Saffron has been found,” the recorded voice from the pet retrieval service said. Saffron had vanished six years ago. Luckily, I had had him chipped by my vet, a way of ensuring a lost pet will be returned. During the spring of...
Can Cancer be Funny?
Hell, yes! Tig Notaro, interviewed today by Terry Gross on NPR’s “Fresh Air” proves you can laugh and cry instantaneously. In a now famous stand-up routine she delivered at an LA theater Largo, in early August just days after her breast cancer diagnosis, Notaro broke...
Maya’s 40th Birthday
Maya had a vibrant smile, a ready laugh, and spark of mischief in her deep brown eyes. She challenged life as well as loved it – and she was the same with me, racing from hugs to arguments. If she had lived, today would have been her 40th birthday. She lived life fast...
The eyes of Christina Taylor Green
Last year in this country more than 6,500 grieving families said yes to organ donation. For 2011 we know many thousands more will give the gift of life. Among them: the family of Christina Taylor Green, the youngest person to lose her life in the Tuscon shootings....
Lazy Girl’s Healthy Turkey Pick-up
With a nod to my grandmother Eleanor Cotton who used to use turkey leftovers to create a yummy dish known in our family as "Turkey Pick-up," I created a new healthier version. Grandma used stuffing for her version. I've substituted brown rice and added sauteed crimini...
