I heard the click of the cassette deck and then the drum and cymbals...

He said his name was Fender, like the guitar, which may or may not have been true, but of course I was Sharona, which definitely was not true.

Contained within my earliest memories was the certainty that I had talent. 

Every creak now sounds like an intruder and a masked ghost in gloves keeps invading my dreams.

My new father-in-law decided the fair thing to do would be to have his children draw straws for accommodations.

I’m thinking MAYBE in my ripped jeans and sunglasses, from a distance, JUST MAYBE I’m passing for a co-ed.

You can’t unsee such a thing. And if you’re a maternal sleuth with a puritan upbringing like me, you might look away in shock.

I don’t have insight or hindsight. Crazy Suzanne should not have documented our lives, and should definitely not have chosen what to pack.

My wrists strained at the handcuffs wanting to wave, give a peace sign or some indication that I was still dateable.

W e’re on a raft of logs in the middle of a river just yards from terra-firma when David hands me the dried piece of mushroom. “ You’ve...

I  jumped out of the car and rushed into the house as soon as we got home from mass.  I flew up the staircase and leaped over my bed,...

As far back as I can remember, I had one very specific goal: True love’s first kiss.

“So, girls, how did it go?” she asked.  “Well, we learned a lot,” we said. And that was the truth.

Our scars are songs written on our skin, singing their mournful or joyous melodies through their lingering marks.

This was where you decided if you were going to be a Sandy or a Rizzo.

I sit in the lawn chair in the sunniest part of our yard and wait for my metamorphosis to begin.

I began smelling something rancid. I thought it was in the kitchen and checked under the sink, but it was also in my bedroom and the hall.

Those make-goods made for cheap fun. This make-good is going to cost me.

It turned out, covering a 10-foot jaguar took a lot more paper squares than we thought and we’d have to work through the night.

I start watching what I eat. Mom seems happy that I appear to be jumping aboard the carrot and celery train.

A pet rabbit can live for eight to twelve years. The lifespan of cognizant childhood is far shorter.

I just never expected to be contemplating dropping out to sail to Jamaica with a possible drug smuggler.

Life took over and I kind of forgot about the emergency bag…until there was an emergency.

The magic has occurred in our guest bathroom.

I am erasing part of his story. Or at least I am editing it.

My one-piece white jumpsuit with beaded shoulders is its own sad story of a fashion misstep that lives on as a two part mistake.

I am a fraud...My sash is heavy. It jingles with dozens of safety pins, including the pinned on patch I’d received for sewing.

Anyone in Los Angeles with a talent and a desire to be on TV? That is only half the population! And they are calling ME?

No way!” Maddie says defiantly. My 4-foot ballerina clutches her bear tightly,lip quivering in her first deliberate stand against authority.

I was born while my father was 100 feet under the North Atlantic in a Polaris submarine. He was honorably discharged from the Navy when I...

I’d briefly forget my agony until I realized my family may no longer be worried about my well-being at which point, I’d begin another tortur

I feigned appreciation as my heart sank. My dream was Dan. His gift didn’t mirror of my feelings. This was not Wordsworth, Neruda or Keats.

It is one o’clock in the morning when I leave The Rainbow Room. “Nothing good ever happens after one AM,” says my mother. I’ve been a...

What are our white brow secrets? Those seemingly superficial things we hide from the world and even from those close

I did send a card, welcoming her to the family and wishing them happiness. And I meant it. But who was this woman he'd married?

Setting your babies free is not easy like a day at the beach. When they’re little, splashing joyfully on the shoreline, not daring to go...

Willie Nelsen was recently named “American Indian of the Year” and his blood flowed with as much Cherokee as ours.

We pass out the last of the roses, one representing each of the babies needlessly murdered in the state of North Carolina that year.

“You deserve this Suzanne,” he whispers in my ear, “Relax.” The sound of the waves crashing against the cliff below the balcony where I...

My cousin Kathleen is getting married at the Boston Harbor Hotel. My family has never been to Boston. Mom starts looking for inexpensive...

I see her running across the expanse of our front lawn, which is only 20 yards but memory makes it 200 and it all feels like slow motion.

Jane Goodall, the British primatologist who studied chimpanzees in Tanzania was feeding a horse at the counter in a cafe by my house.

I am standing in my father’s kitchen. It’s the kitchen of my childhood, though the lime green cabinets from the 70’s have been stripped...

There I am in the United Airlines terminal when I realize: a ticket is not a plan. An airline ticket is not the golden ticket to success.

I didn’t know he’d been in the restroom building up his courage. I figured he was eating a hidden stash of beef jerky.

“Come on ladies! Don’t go! Take a chance! You could be winners!”

Shane is a bad boy. I'm not supposed to associate with bad boys.

Our birds have flown home for the time being, their disappointment palpable, but they are counting on us for comfort and continuity.

When Rumi said, “Listen to silence. It has so much to say,” I’m guessing he didn’t have tinnitus.

My understanding of the birds and the bees existed under a thick blanket of secrecy in the house of my childhood. When I was ten or so, I...