Tag: childhood
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Nora
Sometimes I don’t know what my mother was thinking. She would send me to summer camps; Jewish, Catholic, Protestant…wherever she could get the best deal. She had help: kind relatives, boyfriends and even kindly camp administrators would give her a hand. She was resourceful like that. But it meant often, that not only was I […]
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Castaway
You’re never too old to cry for that which is lost The pieces of my life are woven together with the thinnest of thread. I don’t think there is anyone that even remembers Cambria Heights. Especially Cambria Heights. I have few living relatives, and I see them rarely, if at all. None of them would […]
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Six Word Memoirs
I run because because I’m frightened. I run because I’m being chased. Always adjusting. Always coping. Always running. Packing experiences into every open space. I wish someone could hug me. I can’t let go of impossible. You’ll leave me. I’ll leave first. © Glenn R Keller 2022, All Rights Reserved Image by Ulrike Leone from […]
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Mr. Knorra
One of the major male role models in my life was Hugh Knorra. Mr. Knorra, as I called him was my mothers boyfriend for a number of years. He was president of the NYC area local of the Tool and Die Makers Union. His office was a storefront beneath our apartment. I remember having my […]
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Ski Lift
“What the hell…stop!” I yelled at the lift attendant but he wasn’t paying attention. The day was warm and sunny and everyone was in a good mood; yucking it up with the liftie, most likely distracting him. The chair kept moving as the little girl was being dragged underneath. Her friends, giggly at first as […]
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The Witch
I don’t use the word lightly. But I am not sure how else to describe her. You’re judging, I can tell, and normally I’m with you on that. But hear me out, some people have rotten hearts. A good teacher can do a world of good in a child’s life. A bad teacher can do […]
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Thanksgiving Kindnesses…
I have a lot of memories of Thanksgiving dinners in a lot of different places, with families that were not my own. One of the strangest, and perhaps the sweetest, was when I was in military school in Virginia. The school did not completely shut down over the holiday. Most people went home, but you […]
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Mrs. Wheeler
I’m not sure what her maiden name was but it sure as hell wasn’t Wheeler. She was as Hungarian as Hungarians came but she married a guy by the name of Wheeler. He was an airplane mechanic for a huge airline and he made good money so they had a very comfortable house in Queens […]
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Late…Again
“MOM!!!! I swear we were going to be here on time. Early evening!” Shelly’s mother stared a hole in her. “Look, I know it’s hard to believe but I swear it’s true. It’s not fair! We left the movie early and everything. I missed the ending just to make you happy and now I’m gonna […]
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The Girl On The Steps
In a different life, I’d still know her. We would have gone to Kindergarten together, had the run of the neighborhood when we were old enough, Andrew Jackson High School; maybe Queens college. I started off with a picket fence, little brick house, type of existence. The picture was from 1961…the fifties really, because the […]
Glenn Keller 