Tag: Memoirs

historic postcard image of the Old Edwards Inn in Highlands, NC
Aging, Chef David, Descriptive Writing, Dogs, Essays, Family, Home, Memoirs, Non-Fiction, North Carolina, Parenting, Reflections, Scout-the-Goldapeake-Retriever, Storytelling, The South, Writing

Reflection: Can We at Least Finish This Thing?

Over the course of the long holiday weekend I have fairly devoured this novel by Catherine Newman, whose main character and plot resonate with me in 10,000 kinds of ways. The setting for her story is a favorite summer vacation rental on Cape Cod where the protagonist-narrator, a menopausal mom, has returned for a week (the standard annual stay) with her husband and now-grown children, … Continue reading Reflection: Can We at Least Finish This Thing?

Unknown's avatarDeb German1 Comment
Communicating, Essays, Family, Journaling, Memoirs, Non-Fiction, Parenting, Storytelling, The South, Writing

Reflection: Siblings

During my early elementary school years in Memphis, Tennessee, seems like every child around me showed up to class at one point or another grinning ear to ear, eager to announce the arrival of a new infant sibling in the house. Then on a special afternoon that kid’s mama would step into our cinder-brick public school classroom holding the swaddled infant whilst the older brother … Continue reading Reflection: Siblings

Unknown's avatarDeb GermanLeave a comment
Ballet, Descriptive Writing, Essays, Family, Memoirs, Non-Fiction, Writing

Sensorial Memory: Inside Mom’s Dance Bag

Honey-golden, irregular cleaving, sticky, crunchy underfoot crust born of pine sap. The small rectangular wood rosin box tucked into a corner of the massive classroom, toted to the stage for theatre week, at once shimmering and powdery. Pliant dancer feet squeezed like gloved hands into satiny pointe shoes ripped, broken, and pieced back together just so, the shod feet standing in the box, wiggling around, … Continue reading Sensorial Memory: Inside Mom’s Dance Bag

Unknown's avatarDeb GermanLeave a comment
Architecture, Dogs, Essays, Family, Great-Grandmother Gracie, History, Home, Knoxville, Tennessee, Memoirs, Non-Fiction, North Carolina, Reflections, Storytelling, The South, Wilmington, North Carolina, Writers

Reflection: Good Neighbors and Bad, and Even Famous Ones

Sitting on the screen porch in my Adirondack chair a couple of weeks ago, wrapped in a fleece blanket, I felt like somebody must’ve on an oceangoing ship in the last century, reclining in one of those graceful wood steam liner chairs. Maybe it wasn’t quite warm enough to be outside on the deck, so the attendant came around with a blanket and some hot … Continue reading Reflection: Good Neighbors and Bad, and Even Famous Ones

Unknown's avatarDeb German1 Comment
Chef David, Essays, Family, Great-Grandmother Gracie, Home, Knoxville, Tennessee, Marriage, Memoirs, Non-Fiction, Parenting, Reflections, The South, Writing

Through the Lens: A Rare Glimpse Into an Old Version of Me

I read a quote recently that goes something like, people who knew the older version of you would not recognize who you are now. This might be true, although I believe a person’s essence never changes, and by that I mean, warts tend to hang around—but so does what’s good in each of us, I think, and the good can even blossom if we let … Continue reading Through the Lens: A Rare Glimpse Into an Old Version of Me

Unknown's avatarDeb German2 Comments
Essays, Memoirs, Non-Fiction, Reading, Reflections, Writing

Reflection: The Singular Joys of a Paper Magazine Subscription

Not too long ago I ordered a subscription to The New Yorker, the three-dimensional paper version. It’s just one of many gifts to myself in recent years that represent an attempt to regain ‘wholeness’ after the financial ruination that marked the end of my first marriage in 2012. I’m savvy enough to know there’s much from that long chapter I’ll never have, or get to … Continue reading Reflection: The Singular Joys of a Paper Magazine Subscription

Unknown's avatarDeb German2 Comments
Chef David, Descriptive Writing, Essays, Memoirs, Non-Fiction, North Carolina, Running Injuries, Storytelling, The South, Vermont, Writing

Reflection: Piloting Through Chapter and Verse

Memories that pop up in social feeds can be cruel, but as often they’re so beautiful. Once in a while, images surface as reminders Chef David and I somehow found time to do things together, a lot of things, in the chapter that was life in Vermont. But leisure time seems so elusive somehow in this chapter. We’ve been in our new house for a … Continue reading Reflection: Piloting Through Chapter and Verse

Unknown's avatarDeb German3 Comments
Ballet, Essays, Home, Journaling, Memoirs, Vermont, Writing

Reflection: I Have Stories to Tell

The last two things I remember about the day I left Knoxville forever were gripping fear and a cameo of my ex-husband’s backside as he stood before the kitchen sink with the tap open. He was washing his hands (metaphorically too, I suppose) while the morning sunlight filtered through the stained-glass window framing him; I hoped with all my might he was bawling, but I … Continue reading Reflection: I Have Stories to Tell

Unknown's avatarDeb German3 Comments
Aging, Chef David, Communicating, Dogs, Essays, Family, Food, Home, Journaling, Knoxville, Tennessee, Memoirs, Non-Fiction, Parenting, Reflections, Scout-the-Goldapeake-Retriever, The South, Travel

Reflection: A Father’s Day Gift

It is Monday, the first full day in my week-long visit to Dad’s place down in Chattanooga, to his comfortable house in the suburbs (more properly in Ringgold, just over the Georgia state line) he shares with Sheryl, his lovely wife of many years. These travel plans have been in the works since way back in the fall; Sheryl and her two daughters who straddle … Continue reading Reflection: A Father’s Day Gift

Unknown's avatarDeb German5 Comments
Essays, Family, Great-Grandmother Gracie, Memoirs, Non-Fiction, Reflections, Writing

Family Reflection: Bastard Son of a Woman Named Minnie

You probably got it from Granddaddy Eddie, mom opined over the phone. It doesn’t matter, I have it and now I’ll deal with it, I returned. High blood pressure. Maybe it runs in the family, maybe not, who knows. My doctor put me on some meds, told me to shed a few pounds, and then asked me to check in with her again in a … Continue reading Family Reflection: Bastard Son of a Woman Named Minnie

Unknown's avatarDeb German1 Comment