June 30, 2015
by TRatner
5 Comments
The last time I wished my father dead, I meant it. I was on a plane home to Phoenix after visiting him in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, where he was in his final stage of life. As a nurse, I knew … Continue reading
March 12, 2015
by TRatner
0 comments
I knew ahead of time the exact route I’d take that evening. I needed no GPS or verbal directions to the restaurant where a group of writers were meeting to critique each other’s work. In fact, it was as if … Continue reading
February 7, 2015
by TRatner
0 comments
Over the past few years, I’ve begun to feel age. I feel it when I turn my left arm sideways to grab something or when I extend it over my over my head (torn rotator cuff), but I decided to … Continue reading
June 20, 2014
by TRatner
0 comments
Father has a space between his front teeth—he never cared to have it fixed. When he smiles, I notice the gap through which he whistles. My top teeth were buck with a space in-between. Overgrown central incisors with crooked … Continue reading
November 11, 2013
by TRatner
2 Comments
This is where the past and the future meet. This is after my mother was killed by a speeding car, after my son died in a motorcycle accident, and after my husband passed away from esophageal cancer. It’s years after … Continue reading
November 11, 2013
by TRatner
1 Comment
Ozzie Oswald Nelson, at age 13, was the youngest person ever to become an Eagle Scout. Oswald went on to become Ozzie Nelson, the father in Ozzie and Harriet. Though the show aired years before the advent of reality television, … Continue reading
September 27, 2013
by TRatner
2 Comments
TEN As a young man, he called to tell you he was sick with the flu. You were concerned and asked him if he had any food in the house. “No, I haven’t been eating much,” he replied. So you … Continue reading
August 10, 2013
by TRatner
0 comments
Five When he ate malted-milk balls, he sucked the chocolate off first. Thinking you weren’t watching, he’d roll the candies from one side of his mouth to the other, making the sort of tiny noises you’d imagine a chipmunk would … Continue reading
July 30, 2013
by TRatner
3 Comments
These are ten things only you know now. ONE He joked that he would die young. You imagined ninety to one hundred. But “young” ended up meaning twenty-five. In the memory book the funeral home gave you there was a page … Continue reading
December 6, 2012
by TRatner
1 Comment
Tribute to Jack, a man I never met. Died March, 2010 I never met Jack, talked with him, or touched him. I only heard stories about this man from my friend—his best friend. During the month before he died, … Continue reading