Uncharted

I took a trip early in my singlehood to a place that will forever be on my list of beautiful vacation destinations: Sun Valley, an Idaho resort town where I’d never been before. But the difference about this getaway from the others I’d taken since my divorce? It was my first foray outside my comfort zone with a man–a straight, single man whom I met through mutual friends. We had emailed and talked on the phone for months, so I knew he was who he said he was, and that... Read More

Anticipation

It’s the one place I come to find clarity. Within a few blocks of my Palm Springs neighborhood, I leave the pavement and stride up a tan path that's tamped down to dust by runners, bikers, dogs and a few horses. I head east about a mile in one direction. To my right, there’s a steep slope down to a ravine that locals call “the wash.” The rare inch or two of rain we get here can transform this divot that’s situated between my elevated path and the mountains into... Read More

A Shiny New Life

I remember the sparkle. The shimmery pink diaphanous tablecloths, the candlelight that danced up and down the towering crystal vases filled with satiny white gladiolus and more than a dozen place settings of good silver that created a dazzling perimeter around the dining room. “Wow, sixty’s not so bad,” I thought, grinning, as I drank in the scene of the most elegant birthday party given in my honor—ever. The hosts were my childhood friend and his husband, and they were standing alongside my husband of nearly 30 years, champagne flutes... Read More