Cliff Simon blamed his mother for much of his discomfort and unhappiness, recounting her faults and his wounds, over and over, and with great humor to hide his sadness. But now, in retrospect, with the insights and compassion of age, he revisits the relationship and his role in it.
Maureen Magee grew up as an only child. The word ‘family’ had no great, extended meaning for her. But now, after seven decades of life, she finds herself seized with a gripping kind of curiosity about her Dad’s family and has begun writing letters to the uncles she never knew.
For Bobbi Lerman, a visit to a graveyard is an opportunity to stop and sit and listen to the stories of the dead. In this essay, Bobbi shares the experience of communing with the dead at Isola di San Michele, the island just across the water from Venice, Italy, that houses the city’s cemetery.
Buying a piece of furniture rarely reads like a detective story, but when George Bresnick purchased an immigrant trunk in Minneapolis in 1999, he knew that the opening line of a Holmesian saga had been written. Little did he realize that it would take more than 20 years for the tale to unfold.
Can charity be as contagious as COVID? This was what Marlan Warren pondered during her walk home one morning after a surprising encounter with a man on the street in her East Hollywood neighborhood.
Not every trip goes as planned, especially during a pandemic. But if the success of travel can be measured by human kindness or a newly acquired bit of local lexicon, then Laurie Gilberg Vander Velde’s brief attempt at travel during COVID-19 was a win.
Bringing home travel purchases is an age-old tradition and one that Michael and Laurie Vander Velde have passed on to new generations with personal significance and a story behind it.
As Cliff Simon approaches seventy, he sees that his face resembles that of the father who died when Cliff was fifteen. He wonders about the Polish immigrant father he never really knew, whether the feeling of being out of place in the world was inherited from him, and if his dad ever thought about such things.
Shortly after Jules Older’s 80th birthday and his wife Effin’s 77th, they moved. They left their home in San Francisco, crossed ocean and equator, and landed in New Zealand. This wasn't just a visit; they’d bought one-way tickets and weren’t planning a return.
The virus may deprive Nancy King of friends’ visits and hugs, eating in restaurants, and all manner of social activities, but it can’t separate her from gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, nut-free, bean-free mint chocolate chip and coffee chocolate ice cream.
When Kristine Mietzner embarked on a mother-son trip to Europe during her son Ben’s senior year in high school, she hoped the trip would serve to provide him with experiences that might help him make sense of the world. Now, with Ben away, the world turned upside down, and travel on hold, it is the memories of their time together that provide her with comfort and context.
With travel out of the picture, Cliff Simon found a silver lining: More time to spend on his precious porch swing, where life is perfect. And a lot cheaper.
A trip to the dentist wasn’t among the 2020 adventures Dorty Nowak was looking forward to. But narrowed travel horizons have offered fertile territory for introspection about matters large and small—including, dental floss.
One day, YourLifeIsATrip.com executive editor Judith Fein wrote to a few friends and asked what their day was like. The answers were unexpected, quirky, deep, funny, sad, anxious, bored, depressed, confused, and moving. So, we put out the question to our contributors: What did YOU do today? Then we asked them to spin it into a story in 50 words or less. Here’s what they had to say.
To lower her anxiety over the past few months, Nancy King has found solace in solitary hikes along Santa Fe trails and extra time to purrdle, a word she’s coined during the pandemic, with her dying rescue-cat Mia.
For many, knowing where they come from can provide a deep sense of community. For Elyn Aviva, however, this period of global political chaos and pandemic has revealed an ancestral history of seeking refuge from war, oppression, and persecution. Could this explain the innate terror and compulsion to flee she experiences in times of crisis?
Cliff Simon has a history of accidental injuries. He’s been bandaged and restrained in the Bronx, the East Village, Harlem, Vero Beach, Austin, and Birmingham, with narrow escapes in Santa Fe and Queens. Recently, while recovering from a bone break from yet another fall, he found himself thinking about his accident-proneness. Was he cursed? A klutz? Or was there more to it?
Gary White created from imagination from an early age. From music composition to book writing and dowsing, he’s spent a lifetime traveling to that nameless place of connection where imagination resides and ideas are manifested. Join him on the journey.
When Denise Kusel decided it was time to give away her sweet, old Martin D-28 Herringbone guitar that had traveled with her for 55 years, she picked up the phone and called Billie Blair, who had been her boss at “The New Mexican” when she was Pasatiempo editor and a columnist. Billie always had answers.
In 1996, a then undiagnosed neurological condition had Cliff Simon fearing for his life with no hope in sight. Two months later everything had changed for the better. Now, when the gloom-and-doom media report depressing stories of the virus, of people mired in hatred, or science ignored and leaders mis-leading, he remembers how terrified he was in December of 1996. And, how quickly circumstances can improve.
