by Jody | Human Condition
Julie Andrews will never know what a champion she had in my mother. To Mom, Miss Andrews was the epitome of the girl who could do everything. In fact, that’s what she would say. “The girl can do everything.” When the onscreen role of...
by Jody | Four-Legged Family, Human Condition
It’s no secret to anybody who knows me that I love animals — almost all animals. I can usually find something endearing about even the most toothy and scaly specimen. However, my favorite non-human mammal is the domestic dog, and my life has been enriched by a long...
by Jody | Family, Human Condition
I made stew the other night, and as is my habit, cut the carrots up in larger than average pieces. I have always done it this way, so my mother could pick them out. She hated carrots in any form, raw or cooked, but didn’t mind the flavor of them if she...
by Jody | Family, Human Condition
It does get cold and rainy in Phoenix — just not often. However, we have been in the middle of record lows and enough precipitation to upset the wild birds that visit our suburban back yard. My daughter and I bought some wild bird seed on sale, and sprinkled...
by Jody | Human Condition, Wedding Warrior
I was recently a bridesmaid for a bride with approximately the same life expectancy as my own. Together, our ages add up to way more than 100. Suffice it to say, we skewered the demographics at the bridal salon when we went to have our dresses fitted. Or in my case,...
by Jody | Human Condition
Handicapped children were a fact of life a half-century ago in the Midwest. We weren’t insensitive. We simply incorporated them into the general scheme of things. Life was tough. We were tougher. I had one friend for years who had hydrocephalus, or “water on the...
