Papi and I have shared some of our best meals in Christ Hospital. On the heart-healthy dinner menu Wednesday, March 15: chicken, rice pilaf, green beans, whole wheat roll, vanilla pudding, hot tea, non-fat milk. Papi needed help eating all five days he was in the hospital. The gauze packed and clamped into his nose […]
Author: Nancy Mendez-Booth
She persisted.
I am developing this in celebration of Women’s History Month and in response to two recent events: Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell’s statement regarding his use of the procedural right to cut short Elizabeth Warren’s speech against Jeff Session’s nomination for attorney general: “She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.” A […]
My best day of 2016.
Wednesday, August 24. It was early morning, likely before 9:00 a.m. I rode my new Trek bicycle west along Lower Road in Brewster, a mid-Cape Cod town in Massachusetts. Both the recently re-paved road and my month-old bicycle were smooth: no cratered surfaces and no grinding gears. I guided my bike with my left hand […]
Still beautiful.
(Originally posted September 14, 2010.) La moñita is disappearing. Moñita is the Spanish word for “little ponytail” and it’s what we’ve always called the hair patch at the center of my dad’s hairline. Removing his baseball cap reveals the remaining gray strands. Back in the day, la moñita was a child’s fistful-worth of wiry black […]
The walk.
(Fourth, and last, in a series.) Mami and I walked the one and a half miles along Jersey Avenue from Doctor Miami’s office to Unico Towers. We walked past the corner where my husband B’s ground-floor, bachelor-days apartment is now a sweets and ice cream shoppe (with the quaint “e” at the end that means […]
Doctor Miami (Part II)
(Third in a series.) Nancy la criticona had been too quick to judge Doctor Miami. He kept Mami included in the conversation. It was about her, right? She was present in the examination room. We all knew English, but he punctuated the discussion with well-chosen and timed Spanish phrases, the kinds of idioms that Mami […]
Doctor Miami (Part I)
(Second in a series.) I met Doctor Miami for the first time on Friday. Mami had said he used to be ¡Tan flaquito! Being too skinny causes major concern for Latina mothers. She mentioned he’d gained weight, but Doctor Miami was not the doughy middle-ager I’d expected. He was too tan, especially for New Jersey […]
The main event.
(The first in a series.) Ladies and gentlemen! This afternoon in front of Unico Towers for Senior Residents here in Jersey City, New Jersey, in a raspberry scarf, blue jeans, and practical walking shoes, weighing in at 115 pounds, stands the indomitable, unfazed by bloodclots, kidney stones, stillbirth, miscarriages, MFA program maniacs, jealous bosses, backstabbing […]
Fallen angel.
It began as a not-torqued brain day. I knew it as I lay on the pull-out couch, even before I opened my eyes. Sign #1: The window in my in-laws’ basement does not have light-blocking curtains, but the brightness did not anger me. It was quiet. Only the soft hum and whistle of my husband […]
How to eat ice cream.
(Excerpt from Every Last Drop, posted on September 28, 2015.) Mami and I are long-time, ice-cream eating professionals. We don’t waste a drop. We have a system: Lick around the edge of the scoop first, then continue toward the top to eliminate overhang. Nudge the scoop with your tongue into the cone opening; not too […]