Category Archives: Be Generous – Be Kind

Use Your Words

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It was a conversation I had never planned to have, the one with the friendly customer service representative from the limousine company. Normally, I would hit someone up for a ride, but given I would head to the airport at 4 am on Friday morning, I decided to drive and leave my car there….until I realized that parking would cost more than a car service. Saturday, when I contacted a local car service to make a reservation, the call was taken by the sweet and patient D. D. was friendly, engaging, and not at all in a hurry to rush … Continue reading →

Dear Supreme Court

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  Dear Supreme Court,   I’m not coming to you today as a human rights activist or a gay rights activist or as a liberal. Rather, I’m coming to you as a highly flawed individual who has failed at my 11-year marriage.   As a heterosexual woman in the middle of a divorce, I’m asking you to recognize marriage equality. Because in my belief, any two people who are willing to a make marriage work, should have one. Marriage is hard. And if you must know, it’s been too hard for me to figure out so far in this lifetime. … Continue reading →

How to Trash a Vet’s Office in 30 Seconds

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    “Mom, if I ate 50 hot dogs, how much would I poop?” “Dude, can we talk about this later?” “It would be like fifty times the poop I make now, right?” “Stop,” I mutter.  I eye Dr. S. apologetically as she works on Dolly. “It’s ok,” she says.  I have boys. She kneads the dog’s belly. “It might be intestinal. I’m going to take some x-rays.” Dr. S. whisks the tiny shih tzu out of the exam room and down the hallway.  The dude and the two girls spill into the waiting area and run around in circles.  … Continue reading →

A Favor

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It was a beautiful Saturday. My children jumped on the trampoline in our backyard and swung on the swings of the ancient play set and rode their bicycles through the grass.  Their voices carried into the yards of neighbors as they played catch and chased the dog. A mile from here, many of the yards, yards where children played last summer and early last fall, are still empty, as my neighboring town of Union Beach, New Jersey was one of the hardest hit towns in the state by Hurricane Sandy.  Blocks of homes were wiped out, if not flooded to … Continue reading →

Love and Taxes

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“A.” worked at a desk on the ground floor with a stack of paper 1040’s to his right.  He wore a business suit and tie.  I took him to be around 80. I had gotten his name from my mother, as in years past, he and my stepfather worked side by side offering free tax preparation assistance at the public library. I had been hiding from my tax returns this year.  Fortunately, during the days when I made money, I had the good sense not to spend all of it on vacations and designer handbags and put some away.   … Continue reading →

Me and JT

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I originally published this post back in May of 2012 but thought it would be fun to revisit – especially after Martha and I shared some crushy ramblings over Justin Timberlake last week.  What first appears to be a cougar-y moment for me with a staggeringly young JT look-alike is actually something more.  Read on… HOW I WON THE HEART OF JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE   I knew I was staring but couldn't stop myself.  He tapped his foot on the floor to the rhythm of the music as he silently mouthed the words to the song, with a slight exaggeration to … Continue reading →

Love Revisited

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Hey, guys, The Fierce Diva is on re-runs for the next few weeks, dusting off some of my earliest posts, the ones I wrote before anyone was reading, and giving them a second life.  I thought this would be fun to do leading up to my one year anniversary of blogging, which falls the end of the month. “Love” is one of my favorite posts, and was also where I introduced Miss F. to my readers. Raising Miss F. can be a challenge for me, which also makes her my greatest teacher. Happy Valentine’s Day and love to you and … Continue reading →

Three Things That Make A Difference

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“Are you Mrs. Bernstein’s daughter?”  The attending physician asked as I rush through the double doors of the emergency room. I see my mother a few feet behind him, yet he directs me into a corridor, away from her.    What he says next comes to me in sound bytes.   “He collapsed…” “We’ve been waiting for you to get here…” ”Efforts to resuscitate have been unsuccessful….” Resuscitate? I knew this moment was coming, but that didn’t mean I was prepared for it.  My stepdad Milton had been sick for a number of months.   When he died on January 14, … Continue reading →

The Giving Pledge

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My great grandmother Ida was an off-the-boat immigrant from Russia.  Like most families who came through Ellis Island in the early 1900’s, she had nothing when she got to the United States. She and my great grandfather made a life for themselves on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.  It was a modest life, if that.  No matter how tight money was in my great grandmother’s house, Ida put a few coins in her Pushka (Yiddish for Charity Box) every Friday night for the poor.  Because even though my family had little, Ida was keenly aware that there were others … Continue reading →

Baking A Difference

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I’m a Jersey girl.  A Jersey Shore girl to be exact.  I grew up in the city of Long Branch and now live in a small town on the bay shore, not far from Sandy Hook.  While the storm didn’t destroy my house or my car or my first floor in its wrath, I have taken the damage it caused personally.  New Jersey is my home. It is the home of my family and my friends and my friends’ families and their friends. I know people who lost everything.  Not statistics.  Actual people. I know people who had to run … Continue reading →