Luckily for me, I was adopted at five years old. The thought of looking for my birth mother never occurred to me. My parents were financially stable, well educated and happily married. They instilled enough confidence in me that I knew who I was – I thought. In my 30s, my husband, an airline pilot, […]
Meetinghouse
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Brenda E. Smith, Belfast; Forced separation leads to sweet return
“Partition nearly ruined my life” accountant Iftakar Khan explained to me at breakfast, during a field visit to our USAID malaria control project in Pakistan. For centuries Hindus and Muslims coexisted in India constantly fighting over land and religion. In 1947 the British who colonized India decided to permanently fix the problem. An English cartographer […]
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Joe Beardsley, Poland: Every attic needs an ‘Oma’ to be its keeper
My wife has come to be called “Oma.” How so? It’s a short term for a grandmother. More on that some other day. My theme is suggested by a sign: “Oma’s … Attic.” Yes, it is an actual place not far from where we live in retirement. And indeed a powerful place-name, one I’ve been […]
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Jamie Cypher, Otisfield: Curiosity, courage and the mystery behind the door
My younger sister and I shared a bedroom in our childhood home. A door in the corner of our room opened to reveal a wooden pole for hanging clothes and, to the left, a flight of stairs leading up to the attic. Sometimes as I tried to fall asleep at night, that door would rattle […]
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Amie Webster McGraham, Southport: Looking for the light
Last month, I went up to the attic in search of Christmas lights to hang around the kitchen window, or my bedroom. Or both. Something festive. Frivolous. Too late, I remembered I’d tossed them all – a bulb or two had gone out on most strings and the lights so old they weren’t the kind […]
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Steven Price, Kennebunkport: Laughing hides the fear of forgetting
On long car trips, my wife and I play a memory game called “In My Grandmother’s Attic.” If you’re not familiar with this game, it goes like this: The person to start the game says, “In my grandmother’s attic I found a …” and that person must name something that starts with the letter “A,” […]
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Nancye Tuttle, Wells: What nature abhors is upstairs
I’m a sucker for old stuff. Dishes, cookbooks, toys, teapots, bric-a-brac – you call it junk and relegate it to the recycle bin or dump. But it’s treasure to me, and I refuse to part with it, despite my noble efforts to downsize and rid myself of all things old. My husband and I took […]
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Peter Vose, Falmouth: Where there’s a hinge, there’s a way
I fished in the pockets of my running shorts for the key. Not there. I felt urgently for the key. Still nothing. I groped urgently for the key. Nothing.Then I turned the pockets inside out, saw the hole and understood that I was locked out. I did not panic. Yet. I simply retraced my steps, […]
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Lee Van Dyke, Portland; Flirting with a life of crime
I learned about breaking in from the movies. When the crook was locked out of a massive vault, he’d file his fingers for increased sensitivity, and “crack that safe.” So I did the same when I was around 14. I had been hired to work in a mail room. I had to push boxes of […]
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Jody Rich, Waterville: Cooler, and younger, heads prevail
Summer of 2019, remember that? People came to visit and we got together to enjoy one another? It was during that time when my good friend Hattie had both of her adult children home for one such visit. I like to leave families alone at times when they can get together so they aren’t distracted […]
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