Laura: NYC crime reporter. Widow. Mother of eyeball rolling teenagers. Step-mother. Dependable daughter to four sets of parents/in-laws. Blogger. Landlady. Adventurologist. PTA non-joiner trapped in bucolic suburbs overrun with transplanted Brooklynites, yoga studios, farmer’s markets, and neighborhood block parties.
Upcoming author (2016) on surviving the death of her husband, and of ultimately not knowing what to do with his ashes. Her memoir takes readers through a portrait of marriage, children, love and grief, including adventure-filled, cross country, ashes spreading RV trips where the pink steering wheel becomes her spiritual guide.
Blog Posts
September 2, 2016
There’s not really any normal way to start a relationship. Some people go on a date, and then another date, and then another, and one day it’s just clear to both of them that they’re in a relationship. Some people start seeing each other, but they keep things black and […]
July 19, 2016
Everyone already knows the answer when they ask themselves or others, “Do I reeaaally have to?” Otherwise they wouldn’t ask. They’d just do whatever it is and be done with it. The question is really just a delay tactic. My daughters do it all the time when it comes to housework. […]
July 7, 2016
Dear Readers, I want you to be the first to know– well, besides my mother who I called laughing, screaming, crying, and jumping up and down all at once– that it looks like my book is going to be represented by a well-known literary agent. I’m dying to say who […]
May 26, 2016
My husband used to call me Lucky Laura, saying how things in my life always seemed to come up roses. Send me to cover a story in the Gaza Strip with an obnoxious AP photographer who mouthed off to armed guards who responded by pointing machine guns at our heads and I’d manage to make […]
February 19, 2016
When one of my best friends offered us her Catskill Mountains ski house for President’s week, it took all of a nanosecond to graciously accept. The plan was for the girls to be packed and ready to go on Saturday night around 5 p.m. That way, we’d wake up bright eyed […]
February 15, 2016
I haven’t heard from Carol in 100 years, but when she called me today, the only thing she said was “What are you going to do?” to make me laugh so hard, I spit my coffee out. That’s what friends are for. All the time in the world can pass, but you […]
February 2, 2016
Everyone says money can’t buy happiness, yet a new study released by Dr. Thomas Gilovich, a Cornell University psychology professor who spent two decades studying the question of money and happiness, says it actually can. You just have to know what to spend it on. Really? You mean there are wrong choices, […]
January 26, 2016
No, not the Olympic gold medalist, Mark Spitz. My fish, Spitz. But please don’t tell him he’s getting the big flush. Not yet. My worry was confirmed on Sunday morning when my daughter, Nell, noticed it too. “Ew,” she said, peering into his tank. “You mean Ick,” I told her. “Ew. What’s […]
January 13, 2016
My teenager decided to dish out her own tell-all version of Kitchen Confidential at our house after a texting session in which she moaned and complained that there was “Nothing to eat, Mom.” Here goes: “I usually skip dinner altogether, but on the rare occasion that I do want to eat, there’s […]
January 3, 2016
Already my New Year’s resolutions are looking as sugar-coated as the now empty box of truffles sitting on my desk washed down with a gorgeous glass of Malbec. That’s precisely the moment that I decided to give it up and started making a list of un-resolutions. Here goes: 1. Going to […]
December 31, 2015
All year I’ve harbored a certifiable fear that I would drop dead, the same as my husband did, when he was the same age. Or get a diagnosis. I’m not sure which came first, the much better health insurance plan or the tinge of paranoia that came before each overdue test […]
December 27, 2015
While I certainly qualify for clerical celibacy given that I’m not married and haven’t met anyone I want to become romantically involved with for a while now, no worries! The nuns would still kick me out of the convent for other bad behaviors such as taking the lord’s name in vain […]
December 7, 2015
OK, you tell me. What do parents normally bring on an airplane when coming to visit their lovely daughter and grandchildren? I’d say nothing but their luggage and some empty peanut wrappers. Not my Mom! She brought us presents–and lots of them. Next question. If your parents were so inclined, what […]
November 16, 2015
I used to be a real Mom, but now that my daughters are almost grown teenagers, life at Pittman Palace is anything but picture perfect. And that’s just the way I like it. Hungry? And don’t like what I made for dinner? Learn how to cook. It’s an invaluable skill […]
October 26, 2015
Dear Nell, Today is your 16th birthday. I find that incredible. I won’t tell you how it felt like yesterday and get all gushy about the first time I saw your face or express the overwhelming power of love that bonds a mother to her child. I want to talk about […]