The World’s Best Birthday Party! (Part I of II)

Reposting an older story to introduce part II.  I loved playing with these kids.  Illustrations by Kathleen Swain.

Water play at the Party

Freedom at the Awful’s

The Awfuls were awesome. Even though their name was Alston, the neighborhood mothers thought Awful was a better fit. We all envied them as they roamed the neighborhood with a freedom we only imagined. They weren’t mean;

World’s Best Birthday Party(Part II of II)

Awfuls chasing turey

Awfuls in Pigpen

(Continuation of story of Jamey Awful’s birthday party, without a doubt, the most fun I ever had in my life.  If he gave a party today, I’d be there!)

Jamey’s birthday party was the most fun I’ve ever had. There had been no “Pin the Tail on the Donkey”, no party hats, just fun, fun, fun. When my mother walked over to get me, I could tell she was not happy. She didn’t even go in for coffee like she always did at neighbor lady’s houses. Boy was I in trouble with my ruined party dress, lost shoes, and muddy self. She said I could never go to the Awfuls again.

I figured Mother would forget after a few days, but no……….No visits to

Happy Anniversary! (Joke)

John had his head down on his crossed arms and was crying his eyes out when Mary came down on the morning of their twenty-fifth anniversary.

“What’s the matter, dear?”

“I was just thinking.  Do you remember, twenty-five years ago today, when we were going  together, how young and beautiful you were, and how madly in love we were?”

“Of course.”  She smiled at the sweet memory.

“Do you remember how your daddy came down and caught us on the couch and said, ‘Either you marry my daughter tonight, or you’re going to jail?’ ”

“How could I ever forget that?”

“Well, I’d have gotten out tomorrow!”

A Woman of Words in A Time of Reprieve

From Catching My Drift This Piece is incredible. Thanks.

Catching My Drift

My assignment for Week One of Writing 201–a WordPress seminar–was to interview someone.  I agonized. I dithered. To whom should I talk?  There were so many possibilities, so many fascinating people, so many stories I would really love to hear and to share…

I was completely at sea.

Then I had a fun task at work: I met with filmographer faculty member Dan Parsons to tape a brief segment for Susan Holdren’s retirement video. It’s impossible to work with Dan without having great conversation, without talking about things that are deeply felt and truly meant. We got on the subject of illness and labels, and soon we were talking about people we love who have cancer but who refuse to surrender their identities to becoming ‘cancer patients’. By the time Dan had walked me through the process of telling Susan some of the many things I’ve learning from working with her…

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