My version of the November Middle-Pause writing prompt — Marilyn Flower and Debbie Walker from Middle-Pause are challenging women who can rightly refer to themselves as “mature” to answer 10 questions about themselves. It’s a creative contest,… an explanatory exploration,… an interesting investigation … into ourselves. Or in my case, myself. I get to ask questions and answer them…

Our most unusual Puerto Vallarta vacation — A bus ride you take in Puerto Vallarta is a sightseeing tour. It may not be the kind of tour that tourists from the States get after being sales-talked into a timeshare presentation with a free city-excursion hook. And it probably won’t be the kind of tour that expatriates take…

Have you ever felt like the stupidest person in the room? — “Sorry,” our young visitor has said three or four times along with “Oh, I don’t think my opinion counts for much,” and “I’m not that smart, really.” This last utterance was in a throaty whisper to the one man at this party I’d really like to get to know. He’s…

I can hardly find my way home — When I was 4 years old, I could spell my name anytime Mama wanted to show off to her friends: Ⓚ I musta done my name a hunnert times already, so I really know Kay. Kay starts with a cough, like Mama in the morning. Ⓐ Ay is just like…

Let’s discuss recovery — A day before E. Jean Carroll was awarded $5 million in a civil suit against Donald Trump for sexual abuse and defamation, I wrote about my own rape: My first sexual experience. On my 18th birthday. In a cornfield he drove into on the way back from the movies to…

Me and E. Jean Carroll — E. Jean Carroll and I are both 79 years old, both alumnae of Indiana University, both journalists — and both rape survivors. During her civil suit against Donald Trump, ongoing now, Carroll described her rape by the ex-president in 1996, which occurred in a dressing room after he asked her…

No more music festivals or wine and cheese jamborees for us — When COVID-19 vaccines first became available in Oregon, back in December 2020, I decided I wouldn’t get one. That year, I’d given in to medical opinion and gotten a flu shot for the first time in years — and almost immediately had come down with a case of flu that…

I would have died — I was born two months premature in 1943, sixteen years before neonatal intensive care in Florida. In telling the story of my birth, my mother said the medical staff at the hospital inspected me — no fingernails or toenails, almost no suck reflex — shrugged, and ignored her questions. …

A bit of … Alzheimer’s? Oh, no, not that! — “Ya know, when they tell ya, if you fall offa horse, you better get yo ass right back up on that horse? Well, what ah say is … ” Here, the old man pauses. Looks around to see who’s paying attention. I’m paying attention even though I’ve never ridden a…

Janus, help me now! You party on festive rum punch until it’s “nine, eight shev’n, shix, fi’, four, free, two, won, zewo!” and everything everybody everywhere is “H-a-p-p-y — N-e-w — Y-e-a-r!” …

Until then, it’s going to be just fine — I recently had a birthday at an age that is not so much celebrated as it is observed, noted perhaps with a “hmm.” That’s how I marked the date, anyway: “Hmm.” No exclamation point. I remember my 5th birthday. “Red hots” were 5-year-old-mouth-sized spicy candies that I just remembered —…

And proud of it I’m a new student in fourth grade in Atlanta, GA, in 1953. I’m on the playground for the first time and am beset on all sides by eight or 10 kids I haven’t yet met. …

Relief comes in the warmth of an early afternoon — Sometimes when I wake up in the morning, my back hurts, right here, see? Where my hand is. I get up anyway, go downstairs and let Lilly the dog out, waiting just inside the door for her and absent-mindedly pressing where it hurts. After she comes back in, I take…

Our biology aside — I was born in 1943 two months premature — no fingernails or toenails and almost no suck reflex. It would be 17 years before the first neonatal care unit was installed in a hospital. Preemies weren’t necessarily expected to live. The doctor spanked me, shrugged when I choked, handed me…

Sixty-five years ago — My junior-high P.E. teacher stands before an all-girl class waving a picture of a penis over our heads. On a previous day, she showed us a similar picture of the female apparatus. There’s a lecture that goes along with the picture: Boys have these. Girls have those. It is very…

Creative nonfiction I published as a Medium newby — Back in September 2021 when I became writing on Medium, I was sure all I had to do was post a few stories I had been working on for a while to immediately be listed among the “100 Major Works of Modern Creative Nonfiction.” …

Unfortunately, I just did — One thing I’ve always appreciated about my Silly Lilly is that she’s not a barker. I’m a former dog trainer, but I can’t take credit for this. It’s her breed. The Basenji is one of the oldest breeds in the world, originating perhaps as long ago as 6,000 B.C. They…

Sometimes, all one can do is wait —

Chink-chunk, I was in charge! — I worked summers in a toy store all through high school. When I took the job, I was so excited to be working, making my own money to spend any way I wanted to. I envisioned purchasing a real faux pearl necklace and the rag curlers recommended in Betty Cornell’s…

Good morning, every morning! — There are 48 states on my United States map, but only four of them — Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri and Kansas — are between Florida and Colorado. So Denver, where Mama will be in Colorado, isn’t very far away. And it’s OK, anyway, that Mama will be gone for a while…