Things doctors (and nurses) should never do

I’m going to start a list, compiled from my much-too-frequent interactions with physicians and other healthcare professionals, of things that these professionals say and do that they probably shouldn’t. Some sound funny, but are still potentially problematic. * When you go see your OB/GYN before becoming sexually active after a break, and you ask the…

The perils of parental dating

I grew up in a single parent home. My mom dated and periodically had long-term boyfriends. We liked some. We could have done without others. My dad’s love life was a bit more remote, and he quickly met and married my step-mom. Happily, she was a keeper. But it was a different time, and I…

A quiet interlude

Whenever my mom visits from San Francisco, she comments on how quiet it is in the suburbs where I live. In the wee hours of the morning, when the bats go home and the birds begin to sing, I can still hear the occasional car on the freeway, about a half mile away. Come morning,…

Someone explain how this happened

Exactly 16 years ago, I was three weeks before my due date at a weekly check with my doctor. I told her that the following Tuesday would be a great day for me to have my child. It would work for out-of-towners coming for the bris (ritual circumcision that Jewish boys undergo at 8 days)….

How I’ll pay for the party

Here it is, less than a week since I turned 49 and I’m already plotting my 50th birthday and attendant parties. And I’ve figured out a way to pay for whatever I want to do (leaning towards a pizza party, wherein I close my favorite local pizza joint for a private party, or a fancy…