I think Willie is pranking me. Indy and I have a standing date. Every Tuesday morning, I roll into the apartment he and Willie share. I set up the dining room table for Indy. I log into the telehealth appointment. Because every Tuesday, Indy and I do speech therapy. It’s early when…
I don’t know what I’m going to do when Indy has completed his round of speech therapy. Those appointments just give me so much material. He has two more weeks of telehealth visits. Let’s enjoy it while it lasts, right guys? We settled into our appointment this week, Willie running the…
Moving my parents into their apartment was a hurdle in a race I’m still running. The next hurdle? I needed my parents to be happy in their new digs. This was not a small task set before me. When the last place you’ve lived was your home of 48 years, the next place had…
By now, it’s probably obvious my entire life’s goal is to control Willie and Indy. The problem is never Indy who, like Mary Poppins, is practically perfect in every way. The problem is Willie. Willie has never been controlled by anyone a day in her life. When Willie and Indy moved into their old…
I asked if I could buy Indy an Apple Watch. That’s when everything fell apart. Willie was sick last week. I should know by now if Willie is sick, I need to pick up the slack. I really thought I was picking up the slack. I was wrong. I checked in on…
This time, I thought, I won’t get caught short. This time, I’ll plan for every failure, prevent every lapse. I forgot the universe is the school mean girl, savaging your every success. I took Willie and Indy for a driving evaluation. This is long overdue. I have refused to be in a car…
To paraphrase the Beastie Boys, I got this thorn in my side. Last week, I promised you a story about my mother. It won’t be as contrite as my story about Don. It’s rarely good news when the phone rings at six in the morning, right? I mean, Ed McMahon isn’t calling that…
Willie hates me. I have become Moriarty to her Sherlock; Q to her Picard, Thanos to her Avengers. I am all that is wrong in her world. Worse, I delight in hastening the demise of her independence. Ooh! I am Khan to her Kirk! How could I have missed that one?!…
I’m going to need you to believe me when I tell you I didn’t buy that Alexa to make Willie crazy. It’s just been an unexpected perk. I set up an Alexa for Willie and Indy. It seemed ingenious at the time. They’re constantly forgetting appointments. And grocery lists! I thought Alexa could help…
You know my story, that five years ago next week my mom nearly died. It was six weeks in the hospital and a year and a half to recover. I no sooner breathed a sigh of relief at that 18-month slog when my dad told me his left hand had begun to shake and…