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First, fall desperately in love with one of the classiest women you can imagine. Live and be with her for half a lifetime, and become her best friend.  Know her deeply. Know her so well that you decide to throw a celebration for her 80th birthday.  It will be the first huge party anyone has organized just for her, and keep it a big surprise.  Weeks will pass, and no one will slip up.  Get very excited. And when she goes into the hospital from fatigue two weeks beforehand, when the long term serious illness is discovered, don't cancel anything. ...

One of my favorite relatives, my dad’s older sister, Ruth, was supposed to turn 80 this Friday, and for weeks, a big birthday party was being planned for her this coming weekend.  But yesterday morning, I learned that she had died the night before, and everything has been completely upended. It’s so strange to lose someone you have known your entire life, someone who in a fairly small family, has always been a fixture.  She lived about four hours away, but often traveled through the area, as she and her long-time boyfriend and partner had an antiques business together, and...

  I stumbled upon Artscape three years ago, when I had to deliver my daughter to Baltimore to an all-weekend birthday party, and found I had an entire twelve hours of day to spend by myself on the Saturday between the Paramour / Fall Out Boy concert on Friday night, and the Saturday arcade and laser tag festivities. The birthday girl’s mother, who knew I was artsy, recommended going to what was fortuitously happening that very weekend – the largest free art festival in the country, smack in the middle of Baltimore.  Though “The Wire” was my all-time favorite show,...

Like everything unknown and in the future, I had romantic visions of parenthood.  Having traveled all over the world, experienced all sorts of people, culture, and heartbreak by the time I was 22, I envisioned the awesomeness of sharing my life experiences with my daughter and son.  I had really lived my life, gathered wisdom beyond my years, and was ready to be a parent.  I had so much to share with these future children of mine, and would be better than most at making sure they were happy, and was sure I could somehow prevent them from experiencing some of the more...

One of the big changes with my new relationship, which isn’t so new anymore, is that my boyfriend actually likes to DO things together.  Instead of sitting and watching shows nearly every night as the highlight of our “time together,” he actually likes to go tag “sailing” with me on Saturday mornings, so we’re able to kill several birds with one stone:  I work and spend time with him, he enjoys treasure hunting, and he’s got a great eye for stuff I miss, and is happy to stand guard while I do my last loops and revisit what I might...