August 20, 2022
by TRatner
1 Comment
As featured in the Los Angeles Times… He loves to cook, the way some people love to pray, or dance, or sing. I didn’t know that about him when we first met on Feb. 13, 2012. It was a blind … Continue reading
March 3, 2016
by TRatner
2 Comments
Left to right: Leonard and Evelyn Pasternack; Bubbles and Gerald Rotstein My mother and her two best friends, Evelyn and Bubbles, were inseparable. They knew each other as young wives in Chicago, having been introduced by their husbands who went … Continue reading
October 28, 2015
by TRatner
2 Comments
My Addiction I’m addicted to ancestry.com. It started innocently with a free two-week membership and an occasional quick search every couple of days. But then an hour or two of researching turned into five, six, or seven. It became a … Continue reading
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
October 28, 2014
by TRatner
1 Comment
In the ‘90s, after my son, Sky, died in a motorcycle accident, while I was in the depths of my worse dreaminess, I began to order as many catalogs as I could. At least thirty mail order catalogues came … 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
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
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My husband, Michael, doesn’t know that President Obama won reelection. He knows nothing about Hurricane Sandy. He doesn’t even know that the San Francisco Giants won the World Series in a sweep over the Tigers. Most important perhaps, he doesn’t … Continue reading
December 4, 2012
by TRatner
1 Comment
The beginning of the end Three weeks before my husband was admitted to inpatient hospice, he experienced an increase in bone pain. His daily medications were no longer easing his discomfort. I remember the initial comment from his hospice nurse, … Continue reading
November 8, 2012
by TRatner
0 comments
Street Walking By Terry Ratner, RN, MFA She walks the streets by my house. Denim jeans hide the thinness of her legs. A fanny pack buckled around her waist conceals the pack of cigarettes she needs to get through the … Continue reading