An older attorney who recently retired after a long, prestigious career stopped by the office the other night to meet one of the secretaries as they were going to a play. She stopped by my cubicle to say hi, the silver beads on her brown, ankle-length skirt sewn on top of the fabric instead of … Continue reading
Filed under Personal Essays …
Give Yourself Some Credit
I am always struck by what I see when I look out the window of an airplane. Looking down at the world from 10,000, 20,000, and 30,000 feet, I see things as they are, just not how I typically see them. Speed boats trailing a white wake look motionless, for instance, but they’re not. I … Continue reading
The Enemy Within
Marc works for Goldman Sachs. I know this because he’s told me four times. “I don’t want to work for Goldman anymore, though,” he whines, lighting a cigarette. “There are better places to work, and the difference between $300,000 a year and $200,000 a year doesn’t matter that much to me.” I only nod in … Continue reading
I’m Off to Croatia
“What’s a hashtag?” My aunt asks the room, as my Grandma June places her hands on her lap. My Uncle Ben peels the Fantasy Football draft chart off the taupe living room wall, and my cousins are dying, as my Aunt talks about my sister’s love of Pokemon: “She’s hashtag pounddeepinit,” she says, and my … Continue reading
Active Waiting vs. Passive Waiting, and Why I Think Woo Woo Affirmations Are a Good Idea
“Tinder is just for hook ups,” Erina explained to our handsome bartender as her lobster, prepared a la plancha, was set down on the bar in front of her. An older couple in salmon and white chino shorts sampled a white wine on the stools next to us, pouring the golden liquid from a tiny … Continue reading
Taking Mace on Dates, My Grandfather, and Why the Time is Now
My grandfather and I were never close. He died this summer, and I don’t feel any regret about us not being closer, because I don’t think it would have ever been any other way. I didn’t confide in him. We rarely spoke. Rather, we communicated mostly in birthday cards, formal “Hellos” and “How are you’s,” … Continue reading
You Are the Only You There Ever Was, Or Ever Will Be
“You’re a hot mess,” were the words going through my mind on a recent Saturday morning, and to be fair, I kind of was. I think the coup de grace was the Cup O’Noodles, which I had purchased the previous evening at a liquor store. I had been driving home from a long week at … Continue reading
Are You There God? It’s Me. Natalie.
I was drinking wine while packing my suitcase for a trip to Colorado last week, and while I was in my bathroom, gathering together the mini shampoos, and placing earrings into little plastic bags, the voice of Ernest Holmes, a spiritual teacher who is long-since dead, boomed through the speaker on my phone: “Friends, in … Continue reading
Tinder Nightmares, Little Kid Dreams, and Why You Should Love Every Phase of Your Life for What it Is
This past New Year’s Eve, I spent a good part of the night swapping online dating horror stories with a group of my friends. Where my girlfriends and I were sitting, on folding chairs in the dining room with paper plates with tapas in our laps, we could see the Christmas tree that “staff” had … Continue reading
Your Idea of Success Should be Your Own
I work in a law firm with a lot of older women, and sometimes, like a Mom would to a daughter, these women give me advice. By “older,” I mean their Baby Boomer names – Patty, Dawna, Laurie – dot the firm phone list. A lot of them used to come home from discos smelling … Continue reading