You can almost hear the graffittied, boarded-up, crumbling mess whimper — can you please make me useful again? Turn that abandoned mall into affordable homes. Or a mental health facility. A senior center or community college. Can you imagine a municipal pool? …

The doctors didn’t know what that feisty nonagenarian was made of. It turns out, we didn’t really know ourselves. — Sometimes, a silence turns into a waiting zone, a moment suspended between breaths. It is then that something in me knows that everything is about to change. One of those silences came unannounced, as they tend to do, four years ago on a Monday afternoon, shortly before my kids were…

If you’re lucky enough. At the time of writing, I have just about 10 million seconds left in my thirties. I believe this gives me a fair vantage point to assess the situation. Yes, things are cracking. Not just your bones, mind you. Out of the corner of your eye…

The teenager emerges from what used to be called his bedroom but is know commonly known as his lair. “How long until dinner?” There’s a tint of impatience in his voice, which tells me that he’s hoping dinner is either five minutes or five hours away. “About fifteen minutes,” I…

His voice cracked for the first time on Christmas Day. At first I chucked it to the excitement of waking up to a small mountain of gifts, stacked haphazardly around the lit up tree. When the raspy ups and downs persisted long after the wrapping paper had been carted away…

Binge-watching “Inventing Anna,” I had all the usual reactions. The story is absolutely bonkers and also, in true Shonda Rhimes fashion, plain addictive. Halfway through the show though, something strange happened. …

Congratulations! It’s Saturday afternoon and you have managed to scrounge up half an hour of free time. I am proud of you for choosing not to loiter on Instagram. And double-proud for the self-control you’re exhibiting, staying away from the kitchen. Snacking is a chronic ailment for the idle human…

We all know that not all friends are equal. And that friendships evolve and change — sometimes in an instant. Within the lovely people in your life that you consider close, there is a special place for those who have shown you something that most other people don’t get to…

As I round the corner, I see bright red flashing lights coming from the music school. My first thought –for about a tenth of a second, but it’s such a commanding flicker– is that it’s an ambulance. Or a police car. Or worse yet, an ambulance and a police car. …