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Family Archives - Page 2 of 2 - All The Single Girlfriends

Resting Spot

Jun 8, 2011 by

Resting Spot

Mr. Spot, one of our beloved cats, died on Thursday morning. He died in the way of his choosing; at home, under the bed, where he felt safe.  He hadn’t been able to breathe well for months due to congestive heart failure.  Six months ago, I took him through a labyrinth of stressful veterinary medical procedures to ease his breathing, but two days after, his symptoms returned. We could have done it again.  We could have submitted to another terrifying day of waiting rooms and needles, but how many times until we accept the inevitable? Since the death of my husband in 2008, I have had an uneasy relationship with the medical system anyway.  When they told us Dave had leukemia, his only symptoms were some lethargy and pain in his side.  He checked...

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Caring Comes In Threes

May 6, 2011 by

Caring Comes In Threes

When Toby suggested we write about our moms for Mother’s Day, I thought it was a wonderful idea; but for me, it was also a very difficult task.  The reason it is so difficult for me is because I write about silly, fluff-stuff and am not great with sentiment or emotion.  Since I have the greatest Mom in the world, I feel my writing can’t possibly do her justice.  My strengths lie in talking about poo and making fart jokes and though I’m sure she’s had a lot of experience with poo and farts after having six kids, she deserves much better, so this is a very daunting task. My mom has the biggest heart of anyone I have ever met.  If someone is sick, she is there to help them.  If anyone needs...

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Hiding in Plain Sight

May 6, 2011 by

Hiding in Plain Sight

When I brought a tool box with me to my first post-college apartment, my roommates were amused. Hammers, screwdrivers, a hand saw, vise-grip pliers and wrenches were, to say the least, not a typical sight in apartments occupied by artsy, bohemian twenty-something women such as ourselves. This strange contribution to our new home was vindicated a few months later when the kitchen sink drain clogged. One of my roommates called the property manager, who told her that since it was a weekend it would be a couple of days before a plumber could come by. So I hauled out my trusty pipe wrench, put the dish pan under the drain trap, and twisted off the clean-out plug. After a cascade of fetid grunge-water poured into the dish pan, I reached in and pulled out...

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Ask The Girlfriends

Apr 7, 2011 by

Ask The Girlfriends

This post is the first in an All The Single Girlfriends series: Ask The Girlfriends. We thought the collective life  experience/”wisdom” of the Gf authors might help younger women sort through a few of life’s challenges. As our way of giving back to women under 30, Gf authors will answer questions about life, career, relationships and well .. we’ll see where this takes us. Most of us realize by the time we reach our age that we left some great advice sitting unused on the table because it came from our mothers or some other purveyor of unsolicited advice designed it seemed only to burst our bubbles or cramp our style. With this series we’re reaching out to women under 30 and asking them to provide a question to us that they want some help...

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The Singing Soup Bowl

Mar 18, 2011 by

The Singing Soup Bowl

Friday nights were for Grandma. The world agreed that Ida Marder was The Best, if not one of the best, cooks in the neighborhood .. which, as a little girl, was my world. Walking into Grandma’s house on Shabbat we were first greeted with the yeasty smell of freshly baked challah.  Is there nothing as wonderful as out of the oven homemade bread in any culture? Although the traditional, braided bread was the star of the pre show (yes, looking back it certainly was at least a three act play!) , sitting beside it was a small loaf baked just for my sister Susan and me. The first act .. er course .. always began with the sweetest chicken soup. Pieces of orange carrots and luchen/noodles floated in our  bowls. A perfect way to...

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Corn Dogs!

Mar 18, 2011 by

Corn Dogs!

Like Tani, feeding people has been a part of my life that has evolved over the years. However, maybe because my nest is only semi-empty at this point in time or maybe because she has two daughters and I have two sons (the difference between boys and girls in family dynamics with a single mother is a whole other topic) the evolution itself has been quite different. She makes notes of the homecomings and that she now serves up traditions. Our homecomings are a little different….When the three of us are reunited, our traditional food behavior can be fairly non-traditional. Sure, we have our traditional recipes for various holidays but at the moment Thanksgiving and Christmas are the only two left where everyone is home to be served. So over the month long Christmas...

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Two Widows .. Now Equals

Mar 14, 2011 by

Two Widows .. Now Equals

I sat by the stack of RSVP’s for the wedding in June that would not take place. I stared at them a good long while before I picked them up and brought them over to the couch and began to alphabetize them. Normally I am not this anal retentive but, I thought it’d be easier to find their phone numbers and email addresses in my address book. Slowly but surely I was done. Each card had a corresponding number or email address so I could begin contacting the folks who were kind enough to have responded early to the Save The Date and wedding invitations in the morning. Surprisingly a good number of them were from friends that lived out of town. I crashed on the couch embraced by the scent of him. I...

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Ni Hao, Hello My Friends

Mar 7, 2011 by

Ni Hao, Hello My Friends

A few hours later, it had to be just a tad after 8am, the phone rang, being awakened by a phone during an early morning on the weekends when most of the world is in a state of slumber is well, un-nerving.  At this moment, it was completely inappropriate and I was NOT going to answer. We, he and I, never answered the phone and preferred to let the machine (that was older than Methuselah) do the answering for us and we screened our calls. I thought to myself just one more ring and I can see who it is before I decide to pick up the phone – and then the beeeeeeep! I had to listen carefully because the voice sounded weak, like that of a child, almost meek and shy and slowly...

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Daddy’s On Facebook

Feb 12, 2011 by

Daddy’s On Facebook

My father turned 82 in January. He doesn’t really need anything, but I wanted to get his some kind of gift. I opted to give him his own Facebook page. Dad doesn’t use a computer, so I used my own PC to create him an account. First I created the Facebook account. Then I invited my siblings, nieces, nephews, and cousins to “friend” Dad. I also invited a few of Dad’s friends and former neighbors. Not many of his old friends are still living. Fortunately, he still stays in touch with his high school girlfriend and she happened to have a Facebook account. I had to call her on the phone to get her Facebook name because she goes by the name her grandchildren call her. Gramma Mimi is Dad’s oldest Facebook Friend, but...

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