A friend of mine took a series of tests to determine her mental decline as she aged. Happily, for her, the tests were comforting.  Even so, I admired her courage.  What she’d done was like poking a sleeping bear with a sharp stick.  If the news hadn’t been good, how would she h

Those of us who see challenges through a filter of optimism can feel vindicated for that optimism because, despite warnings to the contrary, the 2020 Presidential election was fair.  Never mind that more than 50 court filings were intended to upend the results. Or, that  126 members

A friend at the retirement center sat down beside me one afternoon in the temporary lounge that management had arranged, its chairs set 6 feet apart.  It’s a place where residents are supposed to carry on conversations while masked. Despite her face covering, I heard a sigh as she

While thumbing through a magazine, I came across writer Anne Tyler’s confession that she feared to concentrate upon a bad idea because it might come about. She holds herself responsible for the coronavirus pandemic, in part, because for some time she’d been praying for an excuse t

The trouble with a mystery is that while it piques curiosity, It also invites suspicion. Imagining bad motives on some other person’s part makes compromises difficult and erodes a sense of community. Anyone who’s followed these blogs, even occasionally, has encountered one of my d

Having lived through the Asian flu epidemic in the late 1950s, I’m pretty sure the coronavirus will eventually wend its way out of our system. For one thing, science knows a good deal more about how to mount a viral defense than in those earlier days. A vaccine may arrive sooner rat