Swim Lessons

Posted on by Giddyup,Linda!
I watch my friend Jo swim laps in our neighborhood pool and admire her steady stroke, cutting through the cerulean water with little effort.  As she glides to the pool's edge and somersaults under the water, I see her swim cap bob up again without missing a beat. She urges me to get in.  "Nah, I'll go down like a rock," I tell her. "Come on, I'll teach you how," she says. Not today, my friend.  When I was a kid, my mother told me that she had a bad... Read More

The Ache

Posted on by Giddyup,Linda!
It happened more than once during my single years after the divorce. I'd awake, startled, in my bed as I felt a man's arms encircling me, then squeezing me so hard I gasped for air.  In the inky darkness broken only by the white digits on an alarm clock across the room, I'd bolt upright, heart pounding as if I'd just sprinted a 5K. "Who is he, where is he?" I'd say to myself, reaching frantically across the bed to feel the coolness of the undisturbed sheets.  Nothing there. I'd... Read More

Lovey-Dovey

Posted on by Giddyup,Linda!
  The bird turned to look at us, its small, graceful head swiveling atop an elegant neck of beautiful blush pink feathers. “That’s the male dove, and it’s his turn on duty,” my daughter Megan told me, pointing up to where the bird sat in a loose nest of twigs and grass. It was 2021, and I’d returned to the Midwest for the summer where Megan’s home becomes my home base. It includes her husband Jay and my three grandkids (aka my merrymakers)—and now a couple of mourning doves tucked... Read More

Profiled: Part 2

Posted on by Giddyup,Linda!
With more time under my belt as a single woman, the odor of my difficult divorce dissipated, and I was ready to show my kinder, gentler side. I revised my dating profile, cutting and pasting until the final version felt like a blurred photo suddenly coming into focus: I'm a straight shooter who is what she seems--no games, looking for quality vs. quantity. My photos are all recent. I'm educated and self-supporting and you are as well. If you're curious, smart and funny (David Sedaris, dry-witted funny), you're a triple... Read More

Uncoupled

Posted on by Giddyup,Linda!
I describe divorce as an out of body experience, where the team you've played on for decades is now in "man down" mode. When I first filled out forms asking my marital status, it felt strange checking the box next to SINGLE, like a kite flying aimlessly with no one holding the string. I'd marked MARRIED for most of my adult life and never thought I'd be anything but that for the rest of my days.  One part of me knew I was single, but another part felt as if... Read More