The Champagne I Poured in My Own Venue My father made his joke in front of 287 guests. He pointed at my black dress, looked around at his business partners, […]
Tuesday mornings were supposed to be quiet. After thirty-two years flying commercial jets — Minneapolis to Seattle, Seattle to Denver, Denver back home — I had learned to treasure the […]
The Birthday Speech They Never Expected On the evening of my sixty-eighth birthday, my son stood in front of forty guests in a banquet hall, raised his glass, and announced […]
They say you can’t put a price on dignity. For a few months, I nearly let mine be taken for free. My name is Eleanor Lopez. I am seventy years […]
The Coffee I Was Drinking Wrong They say you can’t put a price on family. For eight months, I did. My name is Margaret Gonzalez, and every thirty days I […]
The Crooked Arch Two weeks after Margaret Caldwell died, I walked into the conference room at Harlan and Pierce in downtown St. Louis wearing a black dress I had already […]
What Presence Means Clara Mendoza walked into St. Gabriel Medical Center on a cold Tuesday morning in January carrying a small rolling suitcase, a wool sweater she had owned since […]
The Two Dials Isnatched the tin out of his shaking hands so fast it clattered against the counter. The stew was cold, straight from the can, and he had been […]
The Day I Came Home With Champagne The day I finished paying off my husband’s $300,000 business loan should have been the best day of our marriage. I remember the […]
I have a photograph from our wedding day that used to sit on the mantle in our living room. Jake and I are standing outside the venue, just after the […]