For the past several weeks, I have had breakfast with a bluebird. He arrives just as I sit down to eat, lands on the wind chimes engraved with my dead dog’s name, turns toward the screen door, cocks his head, and begins to sing. Sometimes a sweet, whispery chatter, as if he is wishing me a good morning; other times, a rapid chirp-chirp-chirp, as if to scold me for lingering too long over my Barry’s Breakfast Tea. Sometime between my last bite of toast and swallow of tea, my

A few days ago, I stood on a beach in Georgia with my daughter. It wasn’t the first beach we’d walked together. The ocean stayed the same. We did not. I can mark the seasons of her life by the beaches we visited. The strange thing about those beaches is that they’ve barely changed. The sand. The tide. The seagulls. The sound of the waves. Meanwhile, the lives we carried onto those beaches have changed completely. Mikayla as a chubby baby in a tiny pink bathing suit and flopp

I wanted to be the perfect mom. The mom who sent her children to school in stylish outfits, volunteered at every PTA event, baked...

Whatever you say to me, comes out of you and has very little to do with me. Virginia Satir For months, I’ve been trying to write about the lasting impact words can have on a person. Ironically, I couldn’t find the words. Until this morning. I was making pâte à choux for tonight’s meal. It has become a family tradition to eat fondue for dinner and éclairs for dessert on New Year’s Eve. I was incorporating the eggs into the flour, butter, water, and sugar mixture when an u

I spent my morning in bed with a lusty man’s man. Hemingway again. No, I did not read For Whom The Bell Tolls again; I watched...

We departed Juvignac, an arid commune in the heart of the Languedoc-Roussillon region, in our rented Fiat. Stephanie took the wheel and...

I have often fantasized that a long lost relative would bequeath me an old chest crammed with treasured family documents. Hidden between...

Ever since I discovered I have a Rational Heart, I've been exploring the notion of soul mates. Are human beings meant to mate for life? ...

In the wash of mercury moonlight, I watched the mentally retarded man struggle to pedal his bike down the icy, snow-crusted...

I have a confession to make: crazy dog people always frightened and confused me.You know the ones that speak to their pets in baby-talk,...

My wanderings have taken me from Toledo to Tokyo, Pittsburgh to Paris, Vacaville to Vienna, Charleston to Cologne. I have marveled at...

Portofino has long been the vacation destination for the rich and famous. Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall,...

On a sunny day many years ago, in a crowded Barnes and Noble in Hilton Head, South Carolina, I met a woman who was destined to become one...

I woke up this morning with images of Alaska in the Autumn flickering in my brain. Canary yellow foliage reflected in a milky green lake....

When I discovered I would be spending a day alone in Cannes, I imagined myself strolling the Croisette, the promenade that stretches...

I confess, I am a travel harlot. Each time I journey to a new locale, I capriciously give my affections away.It doesn't matter if I am...