Nobody plans a hip replacement for February 14th, right? But that appointment time turned out to be my unexpected Valentine’s Day gift this year. How did this happen? My story begins with a previous appointment to undergo surgery on January 4th. I had requested an early morning operation time, but ended up scheduled for 5:30 pm. No thank you! How is a patient assigned the last surgery of the day when she specifically requested the morning? Is there no compassion at all? How I long for the Marcus Welby days when doctors were kind and listened to their patients. Or did that only happen on TV? Re ..read more

In some ways, this July 4th was a celebration for me personally as well as for our country. My breast cancer surgeon said the lab results on my lumpectomy were negative. “Clean margins and no spread to the lymph nodes.” I am deeply relieved and grateful. But happy? I’m not quite there… This best-of all-possible news means I will not need chemotherapy, which is especially lucky considering that chemo drugs have been in short supply in this country for the people who need them most. How can I celebrate my good news, knowing that the richest country in the world lacks the life-saving drugs to hea ..read more

Before I could explain my recent breast cancer diagnosis to Samantha, I had to understand it myself. How could this have happened? No one in my family has breast cancer. I was never a smoker or heavy drinker. I exercise, eat healthy and maintain my weight. I even take all of the vitamins recommended by my doctor. Obviously, my yearly mammograms, sonograms and healthy lifestyle choices did not protect me, EXCEPT for discovering the cancer early. Am I really saying the “C” word? “It’s malignant,” my doctor called with my biopsy results. “But don’t worry, you’ll be fine. It’s very small, only 9 m ..read more

My first Mother’s Day without my mom is coming up on Sunday, May 7th.  Friends ask if I miss her and how it will feel to celebrate without her. Honestly, no, I won’t miss her. Long ago, I deeply missed the love and kindness that I needed so badly as a child. But I grew up and got over that. What do I miss today? Certainly not her endless criticism and nasty remarks about my lifestyle and my children. Nor do I miss the bitterness that showed up after her second martini every Mother’s Day. As a mother myself, I can finally enjoy a celebration that isn’t hijacked by my mom. I don’t have to e ..read more

Why are there fewer audition opportunities for my daughter Samantha this year? According to her acting coach, Samantha is aging out. Every year more aspiring actors graduate from college. Those recent graduates—with and without disabilities—are competing with Samantha and pushing her out of contention for younger roles. While I can no longer call my daughter a “young adult,” Samantha is hardly a senior citizen at age 32. With her baby face and slimmed down physique, my daughter can easily play characters who are 10 – 15 years younger than her chronological age. But recently—if she’s lucky enou ..read more

In the best of all possible worlds, size should not matter any more than race, gender and sexual orientation. Obviously, 2023 is still light years away from this ideal, according to a Sunday New York Times article “In Fashion, Thinness Still Rules.”  Hardly, front page news, right? What does stand out is the idea that an AVERAGE (healthy!) size 8 or 10 model is finally being included—possibly as a token of diversity. When I was growing up in the ‘60s, I briefly considered modeling, but I could never become Twiggy thin, the super emaciated ideal that has more or less persisted into the pre ..read more

Our family is lucky to have an Uncle Andy. We met decades ago and he became a lifelong friend to me and my family. Like a modern-day fairytale, it all started with our parents many moons ago… Once upon a time, when I was 15 and Andy was 18, we met in Venice on a water taxi. Both of us were vacationing with our families. We probably wouldn’t have spoken if our fathers weren’t wearing identical tan, pink and purple printed slacks purchased on sale at Saks that summer. But these slacks, well, they were anything but ordinary. Loud is the way even polite people would describe them. After laughing a ..read more

Time flies when you’re having fun—or even when you’re not. My phone and cable box tell me the correct time without fail. My new grandfather clock is 10 minutes slow and I’m not sure how to correct it. I’m supposed to tighten the screw at the bottom of the pendulum, but I can’t remember if I’m supposed to turn it clockwise or counterclockwise. Neither of my beautiful steel watches tell the correct time. My steel Patek 24/7 stubbornly lost 6 to 11 minutes, no matter how many times I sent it for repairs. Back and forth my watch went to Switzerland. Even the head watchmaker couldn’t fix it after m ..read more

When my son comes home for the holidays, we end up playing a game I call Musical Rooms. (Hint: The game is a lot like musical chairs, except I’m the one who’s left without a room). After my son moved to LA over six years ago, we decided to downsize from a three-bedroom rental to a two-bedroom coop. We all love our new apartment with lovely views and a balcony, except our son who misses his own four walls and is afraid of heights. Now he must settle for an inflatable bed in the living room. I’m grateful to have my family together over the holidays and to celebrate my twins’ birthday. The only p ..read more

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