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The Music In My Life

A folk-mass at church, a mountain cabin full of friends, Sunday nights at the San Dune Tavern

The Every-Other-Friday-Afternoon Bridge Luncheon

As far as I know, my grandmother’s only regret in life was that she died on a Thursday. “Damnation!” she cursed fate in front of her sister Gert, her four children, and her thirteen grandchildren.

The High Diving Board

The man in the silk swimsuit stood on the edge of the diving board — now motionless. An unusual silence weighed in the air. Everyone turned to look at this figure balanced on the end of the board. A collective gasp pulled the air from the board as the old man bent his legs and in slow motion sprang into the air.

The First Day

David Kemsmier: Scenes From Childhood

Many families possess tales of their occasional flirtations with opulence. Ours concerns Great Grandpa Kemsmier. Short of cash, he decided to sell his small matzoh business. The new management expanded into wines and other kosher delicacies — changing the company name to Manischewitz.

Favorite Places

The mountains, the Nags Head Casino, a cave in a thicket of forsythia

A Summer’s Tale

(Part Two)

Some mornings you have a feeling everything’s going to go right. I got mine when this blond girl in an old Studebaker, wearing light blue shorts, a cotton blouse, and sunglasses perched on top of her head, stopped to pick me up. She said she had the whole day off with nothing to do.

Travel

Crete, Sunday School, a room full of Rembrandts

First Sexual Experience

In the tall broomsedge, in a nearly finished new house, in a tent

Sports

(Part Two)

A curve ball, Panic Alley, the Birch Tree