First classroom. I’m a young twenty-something, newly hired teaching assistant at Pomona Middle School. Our teacher presents the class assignment. A few moments later, a pleasantly plump 8th grader looks at me and asks, “What to do?” as though it never happened cuckoo cry Next classroom. The fire-rated door of room 452B closes. Fifteen quiet,…

You would have turned 86 years old today, Mom. Probably would have celebrated with another covert Marlboro on the bench outside your door. Or sipped another red wine while seated at your monstrosity of a wall-unit desk, doing your “stuff.” A lifetime away from the day I emptied the old house of all of your…

Hours of snowfall blanket Stamford, Connecticut. Inches accumulate, from dusting to knee-deep, enveloping sidewalks and streets everywhere in sight. Partway through the barrage, snow plows attempt to mitigate the encroachment. I scarcely notice. We awoke to a frozen cold-water pipe underneath my kitchen. Hours of heating the pipe with both a hair dryer and a…

Sit in the dark. Just sit. Listen to the pervading silence. Hear the hum of an HVAC system warming your townhouse. But listen to the silence beyond it. Let those thoughts come—as long as you let them go. When the last of them settles down, see the darkened outline of a carpeted floor and the…