Lori Duff Writes
I’m a crafty kind of gal, though one of the things I can’t really do is sew. I wanted to learn, though, and so about twenty-five years ago, my mother gave me her ancient Singer sewing machine. Her condition was that I use it to make her a gold lame bib. Seriously. At the time,…
Given that I am fifty-four years old, I’m only middle aged if I live to a hundred and eight which is possible but is also highly unlikely. None of my four grandparents lived until seventy, and my parents didn’t make it to eighty. Of course, all of them were unrepentant smokers, but still. I guess…
I’m convinced that we’ve reached a point in American society where the goal is to out-nasty everyone else. In between updates on my friends lives and videos of dogs making friends with ducks, on social media there is a never-ending stream of name calling (we don’t just disagree, you’re an idiot or mentally ill) and…
I spent a good hour in customer service purgatory the other day. The guy at the other end was super nice and tried very hard to be helpful, but he wasn’t especially skilled at his job. I knew what had to be done to resolve the problem, but he had to do it on his…
One of the jokes I tell too often, still expecting a laugh is: “I’d rather get a root canal than be doing” whatever it is than I am currently doing. Usually that thing is some boring, useless meeting, but that’s not the point. The root canal is the point. I said that having never had…
Nice is, well, nice, but sometimes it honestly doesn’t get the job done. “Why don’t you sit down for a moment?” “Why don’t you let me do that?” “You’ve been working so hard! You should let someone else step in!” These are all very kind things to say to someone[1] but they are unlikely to…
My dog, Lincoln, seems to have a sense for when I want[1] to get up. I might be on the sofa, and as soon as my weight shifts he hops up and snuggles against my leg, chin on my thigh. At night, he sleeps on or between my feet, spooning his curled-up body against the…
I have lived in the south for the vast majority of my life, but I do not consider myself a native southerner. There are many things that I love about the south, including but not limited to the beauty of the landscape, the relatively slow pace of living, and the fact that very little of…
I first published this years ago. I was nervous about it, given the conservative values of the community I live in. I’m happy (proud?) to say that the response was largely positive. If anyone had anything negative to say they kept it to themselves. Good. Cuz this mama bear would have come out swinging. A…
I have a friend who, for purposes of this story, we will call Mandi. Mandi and her office friends treat themselves, from time to time, to Starbucks. One of them will order for all of them on the Starbucks app and then go and pick it up and bring it to the office. Sweet, fru-fru…