The older I get, the more I realize how much I don’t know. But there’s one thing I know for sure. — No one ever died wishing they’d worked more, she said, rightness written all over her pretty face. Dig taken. I don’t know, I said. No one ever died wishing they’d watched one more episode of Friends, either I say and she rolls her eyes. No one ever died wishing they’d…

Ebenezer Scrooge is alive and well and has never been redeemed by ghosts, goodwill or conscience — I can still see us, curled up on Mama’s old sofa, Mom at the end closest to the kitchen, little brother in her lap. All the rest of us kids beside her or sprawled on the flowered quilt she put on the floor for us. The winter wind howled and…

Nineteen Steps is based in a WWII tragedy Millie Bobby Brown’s grandmother survived. — In 1943, a woman tripped and fell in a stairwell. It was like dominoes, after that, people rushing in the doors, only to fall over each other in the dimly lit stairwell. They were just trying to get into the bomb shelter. Air raid sirens were going off again and…

I run 3 publications. Here are some tips on what gets boosted. — I’ve been part of Medium’s boost program since spring. If you’re not familiar with the program, it means I get to nominate stories to the curators who decide if a story gets boosted. Frankly, I need more strong writers and storytellers to nominate. My publications are small, which doesn’t matter…

If I deleted you, don’t panic. Plus, call for writers who love books — Y’all — The Book Café is changing in a big and exciting way. It’s not just for book reviews anymore. The Book Café is part of Medium’s Boost Beta program, and while it’s exciting to nominate posts and help writers get more views — not everyone can read fast enough…

Please take him off your list, the email said. He died. — When David Bowie sang Space Oddity back in the seventies, I was a child. Standing on a wooden chair probably, helping mom wash dishes, oblivious to an orange-haired man singing about floating in space. It’s stuck in my head, that song, and I don’t really know why. Maybe it’s just…

It strikes me as sad that the people we need most in this world so often feel so utterly alone. — A winter day, long ago. My child a tiny bundle of mittens, fur, and rosy red cheeks. Head back, tongue out, catching the snowflakes that fluttered down on a snow globe sort of afternoon. Did you know every one of them is different? I ask. What? Tongue disappeared. Curious eyes…

God I love crusty old women who’ve lost their filters. — When mom was in her fifties or sixties she went to the pool with her grandkids and wore a bathing suit in public for the first time. Not even kidding. She’d never done that before, because she’d had eight kids and stretch marks don’t fool around, if you know what…

We get it so beautifully right when our beloved pets leave and mess up so bad when it’s people. — Mom called the day she moved into the senior’s home. I’d been worried about her. Leaving the house she raised us in. A lifetime of memories. She was stubborn and wanted to do it herself. So I waited, visiting ghosts of yesterday with a lump in my throat. When the…