legacies from the men in my life

And I don’t mean money. I mean culture, understood in the widest sense.
Whatever about the men, intimacy with them put me in touch with a wide variety of microcultures.
I wonder what legacies, if any, they have from me.
* * *
from my first husband
Agatha [...]

and it came to pass…(part 2)

‘ A KEEPER’ (Saturday 2 August, c. 8:30 pm)
I can’t remember what if anything I said that provoked this comment. During the wedding dinner Plan C, seated on my left, turned to me and said, ‘You could be a keeper.’
* * *
My first response: pleasure. I was [...]

and it came to pass…(part 1)

the sister
‘Have you tried Astroglide?’ I asked.
* * *
Plan C’s sister (PCS) nodded; she had tried it, and Astroglide didn’t work for her.
* * *
I had been talking tête-à-tête with PCS for 90 seconds before the subject of vaginal [...]

‘you’ve got the goods’

I couldn’t decide whether to title this post with a line from Macbeth — ‘if it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well it were done quickly’ — or a line from my very nice wise shrink — ‘You’ve got the goods.’
The line from Shakespeare would apply to what I’m planning to [...]

the final days

Churchillian title, isn’t it: has that note of melodrama, that trumpet-call of importance, that confidence in the universal interest inspired by the subject.
* * *
friday night 25 July
After dinner at Plan C’s house Friday we sat for about two hours on his porch, watching the fireflies [...]

mene mene tekel upharsin

wednesday 16 july
Plan C phones with a lousy cold and coughs impressively.
MIMI: Some people will do anything not to have sex.
thursday 17 july
I finally play back all the messages on my landline, something I forget to do, and find one from Plan C from two days ago inquiring after my foot.
He has called twice [...]

part 2 of ‘post from a wedding weekend’

(First read post from a wedding weekend, part 1 , if you haven’t yet.)

the ceremony
4 p.m. Saturday 12 July
It’s a Protestant ceremony, and everything goes beautifully. Plan C looks at his watch at the end and says with satisfaction, ‘Twenty-eight minutes. Perfect. No wedding should last more than half an hour.’
He [...]

post from a wedding weekend, part 1

saturday 12 july, 6:50 a.m. mountain time
I’m sitting on the steps of the Marriott, drinking a skim latte grande with my trademark ten sugars and feeling the fresh, beautiful morning mountain air. My body, which only recently returned to New York time from European time, is still on New York time.
Plan C is playing [...]

preparing for the end (the end of a romance)

catalogue of his stuff in my apartment
– 1 Joseph Bank shirt, size L, checked [pale blue, pale yellow]
– 1 pair khakis ( “dockers” ), W38 L29
– 1 LLBean nightshirt, size L, plaid [dark grey, light grey, red]
– 1 striped [white, light brown, light blue] 100% cotton robe, Club Room, size L
– 1 pair [...]

middle-aged lovers in europe, summer 2008

the euro
Are you aware of how far the dollar has fallen against the euro?
* * *
Plan C is quite aware.
He was aware of the fall of the dollar against the euro about seventeen hours a day.
* * *
I had to place a [...]