My chin rested in the optical machine.  The doctor had me read from the eye chart and puffed air into my eye.  I, a glasses virgin, waited with trepidation for his diagnosis.

Over the last few years, I had taken to squirreling away reader glasses in every corner of the house.  I had complained indignantly that the font in restaurant menus was too small.  But now, I was tired of tolerating my world as a blur. (more…)

Last weekend, I indulged in one of my favorite hobbies: collecting sea glass.  As I hunched over a slip of beach on a rocky coastline, my eyes scoured the sand and rocks for small gems.  A sliver of green . . . a small piece of pale brown.  I found sharp shards that I tossed back into the sea to continue their journey. (more…)

It starts the minute they turn 15 ½: “Mom, can I drive?”  I just survived this rite of passage 2 years ago, and now here we go again with my son Channing.

We start with the empty parking lots.  Next the quiet cul-de-sacs.  We graduate to back-country roads, then busier streets, then rush hour traffic.  I have learned to relax the grip on the door and refrain from screaming, “slow down!” (more…)