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My father’s mantra was, “I want ya to be healthy and strong.” More than ever, he wanted me to be athletic. Me! Athletic! Since he’d left, I’d done nothing but accompany my grandmother on errands after school, sit in the sun with her in the park or in front of the bank, and take ballet lessons once a week. In [...]
My father and I emerge from the long green canopy and stand outside the Ansonia Hotel on Broadway where we live. It’s Sunday afternoon. 1949. Winter. A chill wind blows. I am four. My father wears his gray felt fedora at a jaunty angle, the shadow from the brim hiding one eye. That fedora with the grosgrain ribbon is my father. He’s [...]
Mid-morning, I set out for a short walk—ten blocks, twice a day, prescribed for my aging heart and arthritic body. I clear the lobby and make my entrance on to 106th Street. I’m ready to start my hike to health, ready to laugh—or at least snicker—in the face of mortality. I take my first step, then pause, thinking, why push [...]
