AnneLyze

I live in the city and have a tiny backyard. This year I decided to make a sanctuary for myself, complete with birdfeeders, grass, a small flower garden and maybe even some vegetables. It’s early in the growing season so all I have done so far is put up birdfeeders and throw down some grass seed. For several days, my feeders got no action, so I moved them closer to the pine tree toward the back by the wire fence belonging to my neighbor behind me. A few birds appeared. I got out my binoculars and my bird book and happily watched them. Everyday my feeders became a little more popular. The squirrels came next and were happily feeding directly below the feeders, until the next day they found their way up the poles to the actual food and the spot below the feeders was claimed by a woodchuck. It was a happy scene. My cats were soon spotted lying in the sun on the deck watching the action. The birds paid no mind to my twenty pound gray cat. It doesn’t take much more than a pea sized bra...

Finding fun things to do with my teenage son is hard. He would rather hang with his friends, play video games or do anything else, than have a night out with his Mom. I had seen the Blue Man Group in Boston ten years ago and loved it. It was crazy good and I thought Ben would like it. Ben reluctantly agreed to go; sure it wouldn’t be something he would like. The show started with a text scrolling across the top of the stage and Ben thought it was corny. Several minutes later when they took the stage, he was enthralled and it only got better. I loved the paint ball vs. marshmallow art skit. But I laughed so hard during the Twinkie section, that I thought I would choke. I frequently stole looks at Ben and he was freely laughing and smiling. He was having a good time. The Blue Man Group is eighth grade boy humor at its best and brightest. The audience was laughing as hard as we were.  The ending was a blast of drums, huge balls thrown into the audience, confetti and the booty dance....

“Are you ready to sign your life away?” He joked as he slid the first of many forms over to me. He shuffled through some of my paperwork for my new mortgage, including my W2s and paystubs and noted, “You work at Women’s Cancer Care Associates? What do you do there?” “Uh Huh, I’m a nurse”. He paused and looked up at me, as if he needed more. “I give chemotherapy”. Silence followed.  I could sense what was coming.  My first day off in two weeks and I couldn't escape my job.  Someone wanted to talk about cancer ..... shit.  I just wanted to refinance my house. “Do you know what your credit score is?” “Nope”, I replied. “ Young lady ( even though he wasn’t much older than I was ), you should always know your credit score”. So quietly, I barely heard him, he said, “My wife died of Breast Cancer on December 3, 2010”. His eyes filled. Without thinking I glanced at his left hand and saw that he still wore his wedding band. His eyes followed mine. “OK I need y...