Author Archives: janishaag

And he, like me, having reachedthe age of Medicare, sounds as happily besotted as I’ve ever knownhim, 3,000 miles away by phone. I haven’t heard her side of the story,perhaps never will, but I hope she understands that his occasionalbluster … Continue reading →

Hot July afternoon, iced tea with Lisain my back yard, two cats lolling onthe carpet of well-watered greenerythat passes for lawn, when Diegomoseys over to sweet old Poki lyingunder a rose bush, leans over andgently licks the top of her … Continue reading →

(for Mom and Donnawith thanks and love) I am driving my mother’s car,plunged back into the pool of my16-year-old self, terrified thatI’ll do something dumb and hurtthe car I’ve just learned to drive,and how can she trust me withher baby … Continue reading →

How can you watch this huge O ascendand not drive to find a vantage point, a spot to frame its levitation betweenthe towers of a suspension bridge you first walked as a college student?How can you resist the urge to … Continue reading →

our father, Roger, who art in heaven, The little girls in this photo couldn’t understandwhy you moved them far from a town called Orangeto a lake called Folsom, pulling them away from sidewalks begging for roller skates and bikes,away from … Continue reading →

You dwell in the breath of gratitude,every in, every outan ongoing prayer of thanks. This is given to you, this thankfulnessfor all that you are, all that you have—the words, the hands of helpers,seen and unseen, appreciation of the abundancethat … Continue reading →

Looking for a part time line cook.Must be good with eggs.—Facebook posting from The Paisley Cafe ••• I am excellent with eggs—the collecting, the scrambling,the neat put-away in the fridge, the coloring for Easter,not to mention the hidingas well as … Continue reading →

for Lauren, Liz, Sonya, Toni and other July 30 kids Here’s to us July 30 babiesborn on (who knew?) International Father-in-Law DayNational Whistleblower DayNational Cheesecake DayPaperback Book DayShare a Hug Day and atthe end of National Moth Week But I … Continue reading →

The Southern Delta Aquaridsdance through the heavens,reaching their peak this yearon the 65th anniversaryof my birth, breathtaking meteorsstreaking the sky atat 25 miles per second. A tiny few leave behindtrails of glowing ionized gasthat stick around for a fewseconds after … Continue reading →

we say to each other, so automaticallywhen someone asks how we are— yet if I look into your eyes, even onscreen,I see exhaustion, despair, frustration, honest anger, sorrow about this thing thatnever should have happened but did, this life-altering devastation … Continue reading →