1958, upstate New York. We had three sixth-grade classes. Kids stayed with their original classmates each year as the group moved through the grades. We only had seven girls in my class and twice as many boys, so we knew each other well. We mixed with the other classes in assemblies, gym class, recess and […]

I was a new kid on the Soup Maker Committee at church. This year, instead of a holiday fair with people, we invited people to order soups, pies and cookies online, and then pick up their choices on an appointed day. I committed to making a soup. We had a total of 11 requests for […]

My grandson has already taught me a lot about life’s priorities. He arrived when the world was covered with a blanket of quiet, which muffled the sounds of traffic on the street, conversations between friends, and ultimately took our breath away. The new kid sees the world differently. He notices the birds flitting around the […]

When I was 10 years old, my father took a job with the government at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. (Yes, it’s where Netflix recently purchased a big parcel of land.) In January the family loaded up the Chevy and we headed east from Butler, Pennsylvania, to Long Branch, New Jersey. I would still be attending […]

“New Kid.” Ahh … yes! I was the new kid a few times. I remember it as being a very lonely and challenging time, especially when changing schools and not knowing a soul. My first challenge was seventh grade after the passing of my mother. We moved to another town, so everything was completely new […]

There was a new kid in our town. Like small towns everywhere in the early ’60s we were a settled-in group (you’d say, “inbred”). The same kids were in Washington and Lincoln grade schools from K-6 and collected to become the seventh grade at Jefferson School. A presidential bunch with nobody fooled. The athletic teams, organizations […]

I’ve been the new kid many times, including moves to new states and one totally foreign country (the USA), but the most memorable experience was when I was 9 years old. We had just moved to Vermont, and I fell instantly in love with the Green Mountain State. Being an outdoorsy sort of girl, I […]

I was a plumber’s helper for six years, and I take a day off here and there from my current job to climb back into the green van. I became a plumber’s helper at the age of 45. Before this time, I cared little about how water reached a faucet. In my basement, the ancient […]

The sun peeked over the trees and spread like butter across the horizon, while the morning fog melted away. Somewhere around a bend in the road, near the woods, a peculiar sound emerged from the blackberry bushes. “Caw, caw, caw. ” Peter Jr. and Benjamin were playing in the backyard when they heard a noise. […]

Growing up, I was always the “new kid” at school. About every two years I walked alone into a new classroom and was often tagged as just another “military brat.” That changed when I entered, for the first time, a school in the South. I experienced a new tag. One that haunted me for many […]