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Tangled technicolor cords bleed over my arm. They are fastened to my yellow hospital gown with a crunch of white medical tape. The cords are attached at one end to…

Growing up, we never celebrated Mother’s Day. My mother always claimed it was an invention of the greeting card companies, or that’s how I remember it. I recently learned it…

“Hurry and rinse the shampoo out of your hair, sweetie,” I urge — she’s been in there a long time and the steam from the hot water fills the bathroom…

In the early days of my courtship with Sparta, he gave me a photo of him and his work partner, taken at a youth group fundraiser. It showed the two…

I looked down at Simon’s relaxed face. His little body melted into mine, surrendering to sleep. His rosy cheeks moved rhythmically as he softly sucked on his pacifier. I looked…

“So what do you want for Mother’s Day?” Kennard asked me in early May. We were on the verge of having a newborn, so my options were limited. But he…

I’m jealous of my brothers’ wives. One just recently gave birth to her first child, and the other is due with her first baby in August. I’m not jealous because…

Mr. Rogers is on television. My daughter seems more interested in her blocks at the moment, but I have turned on the TV anyway, a bad habit, I’m sure. I…

I have a strange affliction when it comes to talking to my daughter about sex. Yes — she is only two and half, so our current sex talk is limited…

“Ma? Do you know where the old Halloween stuff is?” I have arrived early at my childhood home in Martinez to take Ma to her Alzheimer’s checkup. I’ve just thought…

I stand in the library, in my hand a book — red Moroccan leather, with gilt-edged pages, and gold embossing. A rich book that warms to my touch, my hand…