I once heard of a study that compared how people from the United States and people from Japan remembered two key events of World War II: the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the bombing of Hiroshima. Not surprisingly, the two groups remembered history differently. The Americans studied knew much more about Pearl Harbor and felt it was particularly treacherous because it was a surprise attack when the US was not yet at war with Japan. For them, the details of Hiroshima were a little sketchy, but they remembered that that bombing took place during a time of war and believed that it ended the conflict, thus saving lives in the long run. The Japanese, on the other hand, were more likely to remember Hiroshima, which [...]

I haven’t posted in nearly two months, partly because I’m still in the waiting and trusting phase that I wrote about last post. Here’s a little update. We thought our short sale deal was approved, and so we started packing. We got approved for a mortgage and told our kids to pack their books and take their posters off the walls. I set up gas and electric service and scheduled movers, mold removers, and a chimney guy to deal with the back-draft around the hot water heater. Turns out, however, that only the major part of the deal was settled. The sellers still owe back taxes to the city of Philadelphia, as well as a home equity loan, which was originally with the same bank [...]

Google image from my grandfather's birthplace in IrelandFor years my husband and I felt that we’d like a bigger house and garden, but we pushed those feelings aside in the name of simplicity and loyalty to our neighbors, whom we love. But this spring several things happened that shifted our assumptions. First, our neighbors had a baby, which means that with two other children, they are feeling even more cramped than we are in a three-bedroom, one bath rowhouse. Through a series of conversations and a few house hunting trips, it became clear that we were entering a new phase when expanding a bit felt right, rather than extravagant. Since we’ve settled on a high school for our daughter and are excited about the fact [...]

Tomorrow will be the sixth Mother’s Day that involves visiting my mother’s grave, rather than cooking for her. It comes at a time when I’ve been thinking about my ancestors, her family in particular, and boy have I got some questions. I had always wanted to learn more about my roots, so when a little time opened up this spring, I went down to the basement and dug up the family tree started by a man I had never heard of. It turns out he’s my 76 year-old second cousin, with whom I’m now in email contact. The tree follows the descendants of Patrick McEnroe and Rose Brady, who married in 1846 during the Irish Potato Famine and had five children before Patrick died at [...]