A Modern Family Romance Part Two

I wasn’t sure about the house.  It was close to the beach, it had a second floor wrap around porch that lent a great view of the ocean.  It had a ground level bedroom for guests.  But there were faults.  The rooms were small and musty and paneled with dark wood.  The kitchen wasn’t the least bit modern.  There was no dishwasher.  The clothing dryer was old.  Would the landlord call someone to fix it if it broke down?  I didn’t have much time to find a place to live, and rentals were sparse on our island, affordable rentals were … Continue reading

A Modern Family Romance Part One

“Does good pizza even exist down here?”  I asked B. on our first date. “Sure there does,” he replied, as he rattled off a short list of reputable places.  Some of them I had heard of.  There was that restaurant in Wilmington.  There was the place in Carolina Beach that had a good reputation.  But good compared to what? “No, seriously, good enough for a Jersey Girl kind of good?  Because North Carolina people have told me about the ‘good pizza’ before, but it’s never been the same.” Pizza talk took up a lot of our first date.  I decided … Continue reading

A Modern Family Valentine

“I know, my car’s a mess.  You don’t have to tell me.” “I’ve seen it look worse,” says S., the man who thrives on order, as he loads the oversized pictures into the back of my cargo space. He follows me to the store in his car. I asked him when he scheduled the weekend with me to bring his tool box and a drill. Somewhere along East Oak Island Drive he disappears from behind me. A few minutes later, he shows up in my parking lot, handing me a cup of coffee. “Where’d you go?”  I ask. “B.’s place?” … Continue reading

You Gotta Be: Ask Away Friday with Tamara Camera Blog

Well, hey, there, blog! Remember me? Yes, blog, you’ve been neglected but admittedly, I have a lot of distractions right now. Like this storefront. Hey, readers!  I miss y’all! Want to take a look at what lies beyond that building permit? Yeah, I’m loving the purple and green. And when you come to visit me this summer, (see how I’m not saying “if” but “when?”), there will be photos Swami Satchyananda at the opening ceremonies of the Woodstock Music Festival and of Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon adorning those purple walls. You want to see something else? Meet the face … Continue reading

A Modern Family Christmas

I thought the story would be the nose ring.  I was almost certain I knew my mother’s reaction.  I heard her, as I sat in the back room of the Wilmington tattoo parlor, after I felt the needle pierce my skin, go, “Oh , darling, why did you do that to your nose?” Yes, I know.  Women my age are taking out their nose rings, not putting them in.  Correction.  Women my age took out their nose rings ten, if not twenty – years ago.  I was prepared for the inquisition as to why, her daughter, a responsible adult, with … Continue reading

Ten Reasons You Don’t Want to Date Me

Every single mother who is dating has stories to tell. Sure, everyone in the dating world has stories, but the middle aged single mom stories are a brand all their own. I had drafted a “just for fun” post today about the ten reasons you wouldn’t want to date me, in which I offered up some of my biggest character flaws as a woman on the market and intertwined them with some of the more ridiculous moments I’ve lived the past few months while navigating this uncertain, unchartered territory.  At the last minute, I pulled the post.  It was humorous, … Continue reading

The Bridge

I have six good memories of my father. When I was four, we spent the winter in Florida, and my dad bought me an ice cream sandwich for the good behavior I displayed one morning while running errands with him.  There was the time, also in Florida, that he saved me from being stuck in an elevator by myself.   After a drinking binge with my friends, as a teenager, where a drunken fall caused me to chip my front tooth, my father, a dentist by profession, took me to his office that night and bonded up the chip, without once … Continue reading

Modern Family: Jersey Edition

S. stood outside the driver’s side window. “Are you driving?”  He shouted through the glass. “Do you want me to?” “No.” I’m not surprised by this. In our 16 years of knowing each other, I can count the times I was behind the wheel with S. as a passenger. I jump out of the car and walk around to the passenger side and get in, while S. adjusts the mirrors. “It’s dirty in here.  Sorry about that,”  I say, as S. inspects the car that was once his, the car he’ll tell you I stole, but it was a fair … Continue reading

Out of Order

If you had asked me a few hours earlier, I would have thought the flat tire would have been the trickiest part of my day. When I finally decided to acknowledge the “Check Tire Pressure” light flashing on my dashboard, the air pump at the gas station sucked the air out of my tire instead of putting it in.  Maybe, had I paid closer attention, I would have noticed the rubber of the Goodyear sagging into the concrete before the tire actually went flat, or I would have bothered to flip the backwards piece of paper on top of the air … Continue reading

Good Stuff

“Do you like it?” She asks. “It’s good,” I say,  “It’s really good.  And definitely the best I’ve eaten since I’ve lived here.” And it is good, worlds better than the Walmart pizza that I had begun to accept as passable, crisp yet chewy crust, flavorful cheese, tangy sauce.  I’ll definitely go back there for more. Tomorrow, even, knowing me. “Have you been running,” L. asks as we eat. “A lot,” I say.  “Probably more than I should be.  I ordered a case of vanilla Cliff shots from Amazon.  Have you ever eaten those things?  They’re like vanilla cupcake frosting.”  … Continue reading