One love

My sister lay there, intubated, paralyzed, her lips cracked and dry around the plastic tube that had been forced down her throat.

I sat there alone with her, listening to the machines beep and hum, the air being forced in and out of her body.

"I wish we were at a Neville Brothers concert instead of doing this," I said.

Her eyes widened. She turned her head toward me. Around the tube, she mouthed, "No shit."

Both of us sat there in silence, tears leaking from our eyes.

"Oh, god, this sucks," I said. That was the last thing I remember saying to her. Doctors came in, the bustle of the hospital started, and she died the next morning.

*******

Yesterday I sat in the shade on a hillside on a perfect warm day, thousands of people in beach chairs crowding the hill below me, a open-air stage at the bottom.

When the Neville Brothers took the stage, I burst into tears again, remembering. CC and Jim comforted me as I spilled my story.

Then I went down and bounced around like a dancing fool on the lawn in front of the stage.

When Aaron sang a medley of "Amazing Grace," "One Love" and "Train to Jordan," my heart was stretched wide open with joy. I know she was there with me. She had to be.

Who is on notice?

Dating Stories

Three girlfriends and I were having lunch on the patio of a gorgeous Argentine cafe in Santa Barbara, pretending to be the Sex in the City girls except without painful shoes, buckets of money and alcoholic beverages.

Between flirting with the waiters, we were talking about a budding relationship.

My friend said she had had an accidentally romantic meal with the New Guy - she had been making dinner, he was hungry, he came over, the kitchen table was a mess, so she set the patio table...with candles...

"And then after dinner, guess what he wanted to do?" she asked.

"What?" we asked.

"Clean up the kitchen," she answered with a smug smile.

"Ohhhhhh," we breathed simultaneously. We gave her the big thumbs-up.

Single men, pay attention. This is information you can use.

**********

Later, CC and I were discussing past relationships.

"He was really good at the beginning," I said. "I think he is great at starting relationships."

"We all are," said CC ruefully. "Until we stop behaving and let our real selves come out."