Healthcanc

A good friend of mine is leaving the country, going home, and she might never come back. She isn't leaving because she fears deportation, rather, she hasn't seen her mother in many years. The older woman is getting on, is in her nineties.  The younger begs her friends to understand: "I have to see my Mommy. If not now, when?"  We know what she means. The littlest things can make you think about parents when they're no longer with you, when you can't just call or visit anymore. FD and I used to have a tradition, inspired in part by my mother. In December she would give me money in a birthday card (out of her social security), and I was to take FD to the opera. Mom, a  Dancing With the Stars person, knew we loved the Lyric, but in those days it was cost-prohibitive; we didn't go very often. The idea, to get us out of our  work-til-you-drop rut, was a good one. The subtext, maybe, think of your mother while you marvel at the theater, the people, the product...

This post is dedicated to Bev, who always saw and always heard my mom. Zeek and Camille    I've been watching way too much TV, and feel guilty because I remember telling my kids how it is so numbing, how it can get away from you, the hours. And it's the truth, more than likely, why we love it. That and looking at people who are good-looking and talented enough to make it onto television.  Our own people zoo. Does the job. And yet, it has to stop. An hour a night is all I get, then it's back to books. Who needs friends? One big happy family You do learn things from TV. After hearing about it from a critical mass, I found • Parenthood on Amazon Video, all of those old episodes about aging and not so aging hippies and hipsters, one big happy family in Berkeley, circling the hub, the deteriorating old family homestead, complete with a barn. The teenager, even the young children, are the ones who think outside the box. There's an especially adorable child with Asperger...