Writing out of my mind
by Joan Silberlicht Epstein
I have been a keen observer of people and my surroundings for as long as I can remember. I sat and I watched and I wondered. While I never took to hiding in dumbwaiters (does anyone actually have one of these?) Harriet the Spy fascinated me.
I have not always spoken up about my observations, but I have always had plenty to say. This blog is a compilation of those things. Welcome to the inside of my head!
Secret Recipe
It is an ongoing joke that I married my husband for his family hamantaschen recipe. That was over 30 years ago.
Pandemic Sexy (or Finding Love in a Pandemic)
I like the way you wear it
Tight across your nose
Extending beneath your chin.
The Other Side
Here I stand
Outside your door
while on the other side you are being the teenager you are meant to be…
Baa Baa Black Sheep
There is one in every family, right? The great uncle who went out for cigarettes and never came back; the relative who raised her much younger adopted sister who looks remarkably like herself;
Plymouth & Brockton
I feel like we are runaways,
only not,
as we are heading
toward the chaos I most wish to avoid.
A Letter to My Son at Camp
Each night
as I clean up from dinner
I put away the serving which would have been yours.
Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover
An old adage, but how does it apply to the current trend of eReaders? When I go into someone’s home I look around at what is on display. It is a great way to get to know something about who lives there.
In the Blink of an Eye
An entire life can change in the blink of an eye. This is ever more true when you become a parent. I remember one day when I was pregnant with our first child. I was grocery shopping. While I was leaning over a display case to check out the produce someone took my cart.
Reunion Revelations
This weekend is my 25th college reunion. A time for returning to old haunts, reintroducing oneself to former class mates and reminiscing with long lost friends. A weekend filled with all sorts of activities, planned events and impromptu gatherings. Sounds great! And yet,
An Open Letter to My Children
Dear Children, When you think of me, and I know you do (I am your mother after all), I hope you think of me with fondness and love. That is certainly the way I think of you. I am not saying that I don’t understand that there will be times when you are angry or
Perspective
Perhaps it was time for another revelation, or perhaps it was just a brain glitch while drying my hair this morning, but I realized that I don’t really have a personal mission. In life, maybe, but not on a smaller scale. I fill my time with
A Silver Lining
A sign of hope in an unfortunate situation: That is the definition of a silver lining. That is what I have found here.
While all that has occurred in Boston since that first blast at the marathon is far greater than “an unfortunate situation”,
Beyond the Bombing
Yesterday I woke to an eerie silence punctuated by the occasional bird or police siren. This morning I am greeted by the sounds of rain hitting the roof and birds singing in the eaves. Yesterday I spent the day inside, sheltering in place,
Let My People Go
Pesach is a time during which Jews scramble to find alternatives to the starches they normally eat. What to do in place of bread, rice, noodles? Instead of focusing on substitutes this year I would like to try to focus on reducing the amount of that sort of thing I eat;
A Race to the Start
Sometimes mundane things can trigger big thoughts, like this morning when I opened the fridge. I saw the juice bottle in the door and noticed there was very little juice left in it. Not enough to fill the smallest glass in the house. Not even enough to
Spring Ahead
Daylight Savings Time is an odd thing. We set our clocks ahead to allow us to take advantage of more daylight during waking hours. This shift is somewhat lost on me as I tend not to have normal waking hours and am often up during the wee hours of the morning.
Inside Out
I sit in the corner of the exam room watching the nurse palpate my sister’s breast. My own hand rests upon my belly feeling the steady thump of the child inside. We each have something growing inside us.
A Measure of Success
My 25th college reunion is approaching. Whether or not I will attend has more to do with timing and finances than anything else, but I can’t help but wonder what I would talk about with friends and classmates long forgotten.
47 and Counting
Today was my birthday. My 47th birthday to be exact and I will admit to not having been too excited about it. Not because I am unhappy about getting older; I don’t think I have ever been distressed by the numbers. It is just that I find birthdays to come with an enormous