"How is Sophie?" a neighbor asked the other day, inquiring about our endearing Yellow Lab.

Sophie, with her lively personality and satanic eyes (she had Horner's syndrome), was an important member of our family for a long time. As a new puppy, Sophie was my daughter Melissa's "show and tell"...

"Did I ever tell you I almost died in this pond, Mom?" my son asked as we were having a lovely walk in the woods near my home. It is fun to shock a parent who believes their kid is close to perfect. I have shocked my own mother of course...

"How does my hair look?" my friend asked me the other day. "I told the stylist not to make it flat, but she made it flat. Do you think it's flat? What do you think of the color?"

I had heard enough about my friend's hair over the past days, weeks and...

"Seriously, Mom? What is wrong with people over 50?" my son asked me the other day. "Everyone over 50 feels the need to explain how to get somewhere. It's annoying."

What is wrong with us? Why do we insist on giving directions when just about all of us now have a device...

Dear Kids,

Every spring, with the arrival of letters from college admissions offices, parents around the country start getting all nostalgic and sad, picturing themselves wandering around their children's empty rooms.  ou probably are a little worried about us -- that we miss your charm, beauty, brilliance, goofiness, intensity, sarcasm,...

I was having lunch with a friend a few weeks ago at a small cafe. It was a cold late winter day, and when the waiter brought over the big bowl of vegetarian chili I had ordered with a pile of cheese on top, I started to salivate. The food, the...

Have you ever seen what a Brazilian looks like? Do you know anyone who has one? If you know anyone under the age of 30, then I imagine you do. Because if my friend is right, "no one" under the age of 30 has hair down there anymore.

A "Brazilian"...

I couldn't resist the truffle gnocchi. It was aglow with melted cheese and olive oil. When my husband reached over for a taste, I almost stabbed him with my fork. "Don't get between me and the gnocchi," I warned, and he retreated as I sopped up the oil with Tuscan...

Trying to keep young and hip? It's always harder than you think. Did you spill a little stardust from the bottle of meteorite cream? Miss the free shipping offer on the Garcinia Cambogia Extract? Maybe you could not find a hairdresser to do your balayage just right. Maybe your gym...

My friend Tammy had troubles, but it took me awhile to figure it out. She was a redhead who smoked menthols, loved music, dancing and beer. Her father was a judge, a real one, but she herself was totally non-judgmental.

Tammy was the friend that held the ice to my...

In 1949, E.B. White captured the whole of New York City in a 7,500 word piece called, Here Is New York. My daughter downloaded the book to our shared digital account last week. "You might like this mom," she emailed me, "it will just take you an hour."...

Yawn. Are the Oscars this week?

I don't hate the Oscars. The word hate evokes a passion that I just can't seem to muster -- I'm just bored. I'm ambivalent about winners and losers, and supersaturated by all the hype. I'm also feeling a little wierd that I'm an empty...

Mike and I watched the swirling snows of Nemo one recent Friday afternoon, curled up on the couch in front of a roaring fire. Carole King radio played on Pandora over the stereo. We each had a glass of tequila splashed with Cointreau, in which floated a few wedges of...

When my dad sees me, he gives me a big smile through chocolate-stained dentures. He's just finishing a cookie. There are crumbs on his lap and on the floor surrounding his wheelchair. His fingers are speckled with chocolate. He is thoroughly enjoying that cookie, and the mess doesn't bother him....

Spending a weekend in New Hampshire with two of my beautiful teenage nieces, I felt a special kind of "out of it" -- like I had permanently left the world of the young. I was in a menopausal state of mind. It's not that they can ski faster, that they...

The Question(s)... Does Jell-O have a place at your dinner party? Is Jell-O mold hip?

Friends whom we had lost touch with for years invited us to an intimate dinner party in their beautiful new home last summer. We had drinks outdoors. The landscaping was magnificent, the pool light caused a...

I'm not stupid. I graduated college, went to law school and passed the bar (the first time). I'm not "out of it" as far as technology goes. I can make Siri take me home or give me a reminder when I pull into the garage. I read on my iPad, I post...

"Could you stop singing, mom?" my kids would whine years ago as I carpooled them to their activities. "You're ruining the song for me." I reminded them that they never once lodged a complaint when I sang them to sleep when they were little, but I knew what they meant. I...

My son woke up late the morning of Doomsday -- well after the hour when he thought the world as he knew it was going to end, looked at us with a big smile, and asked, "Is this real life?" It was a cold and rainy New Hampshire morning, but...

For the community of Newtown, Connecticut, the world as they knew it ended on 12/14/12. I write this column with a great sadness in my heart for the families of the small children and others who lost loved ones that day, and to the entire community of Newtown. So many...