Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Reminiscing 3
Nursing School 6
How I Met My Husband 8
My Mothering Mistakes 10
The Grateful Dead Concert 12
Mother of the Bride (and Groom) Hair Disasters 13
Retirement in Delaware 15
The CPAP Adventure 17
I Will Never Be a Contestant on Cupcake Wars 19
Squeaky Floorboards 22
Hashtags 24
My Itchy Husband 25
Please God-No Head Lice or Cookie Exchanges 27
Christmas 2019 29
Never Rush a Prime Rib 31
The Coronavirus 33
My Succulent Sausages 36
Babysitting the Pets 38
Rehearsing My Lines 41
TV Channels for Peaceful Waiting Rooms 43
Buying a Mattress 44
Tripping (and not on drugs) 46
My Memory 48
Walking Through My Neighborhood 50
Pedicures 51
Age is Relative 52
The Day My Cell Phone Took a Dive into the Toilet 53
The Recliner 55
The Frying Pan 56
My Father 58
Mount Everest 60
The Scale 62
Shapewear 64
The Grandkids' Sports and Activities 66
My Garbage Disposal Guilt 68
I Love Elephants 71
Technology 73
My First Zoom Meeting 75
The Nice Policeman in Rehoboth 77
My Mother Never Told Me 79
Paul, the Car, and Me 82
Nervous Laughter 84
The Cheesecake 85
Husbands 87
My Missing Handbag 89
Vertebrae and Funerals 91
What's Therapy for Some Is Torture for Others 93
I Stuffed My Last Turkey 95
The Martian 96
Perks to Having Creaky Joints 98
The Pandemic (continued) 99
Another Dog Story 103
Absconding With the Phone Chargers 106
Tax Season 107
Reading Glasses 108
Plastic Straws 109
Our Losing Sickness 111
Japanese Beetles 113
Too Many Choices 114
Selling My Book 115
Picking Out Paint Colors and Tile 117
I WANT AN AGENT! 119
A Nurse's Story-Different Perspectives 121
Throw Pillows 123
Birds 124
No-I Did Not Steal the Chicken 126
Mary Ann 128
Seconds 129
Breaking News 131
Insomnia 133
Future Nurse? 135
Ebooks and Shopping Online 136
Paul's Radical Prostate Surgery 138
My Admiration of Free Verse Poetry 140
Little White Lies 141
My Husband's Cure for Everything-Exercise 142
Car Seats 143
The Silver Lining 145
Acknowledgments 147
Also Mary Ann Hoyt 148
