The scratching at the screen door drove her daughter crazy, she knew that, and the dishes in the sink made her husband mad as hell, not to mention the keys left in the door because she always came in with full arms and didn't have another one to spare, but she had to let the dog in, it sounded as if it would tear a hole through the wood of the door itself.  She hated the sound too, but had to pretend it wasn't so bad just to spite her kid.

The level of high pitched complaining was at…

Yesterday my grandmother arrived for her summer visit.  She comes for two weeks every year and my mother turns into someone strange, someone I have never seen her be -a daughter.  She is just like me suddenly; defensive, eager to please, showing off, withdrawn, full of giggles, aloof, talking too fast, all the conflicting states that make childhood so mysterious and painful.  

Today Nana and I escaped to the beach.  It is early, 7am (because she can't stand the full sun), and the…

Sights like these might seem quaint and pastoral, scenes from a better time, a time before technology stuck it's nose into our lives and made us all allergic to temperature fluctuations, dirt and humanity, but to me they are just reminders of a past I'd rather forget.  I get a gut wrenching sensation as I drive past, and I take the obligatory picture, but deep down I know that I came from a place just like that, a place where the smell of nature wasn't a good thing that you drive for two…