Blog - Laura Black

By Laura Black I love my husband. However, I never anticipated round-the-clock confinement with him for months on end. Nor he, with me. Charles and I have been married for 28 years. We met on a blind date. I was a recently divorced attorney/ businesswoman with three children. He was a long-divorced insurance broker with…

Originally published in The Baltimore Sun By Laura Black As a child, I was jealous of Christmas. I grew up in Coral Gables, Fla., in the late ‘50s. Only one other Jewish family lived on our street. While my family was still finishing leftover turkey sandwiches and soggy pumpkin pie, our neighbors were inflating…

There comes a moment when you swallow what you always knew but aimlessly brushed away like mosquitos circling with truth in the summer’s heat. All dreams will not come true expectations will not be met experiences will not be realized hope has boundaries. You cannot help but tally that which can no longer…

By Laura Black Of all my marital responsibilities, taking my husband for a colonoscopy is at the bottom of the list. No pun intended. This man, who lifts 200-pound barbells and says root canals are “no big deal ” works himself into a tither at the thought of forced fasting and cleansing. So, I steadied…

By Laura Black The girl pictured in the magazine caught my attention. She was about my age, ten, and fat — fatter than me. Her stomach protruded out from the gap between the top of her stretchy, turquoise pants and the bottom of her matching paisley top. Dimples pocked her arms and legs. Her pimpled…

By Laura Black It happened again. It was one of those cloudless, light sweater days. My husband and I savored a break from the recent run of high humidity by stopping for coffee at an outdoor café on the Eastern Shore. I inhaled the aroma of freshly ground beans and wavered between cappuccino and…

My husband parallel parked his Highlander along the curb of the narrow street in front of my daughter’s red brick, DC row home. The front door flung open and Jackie strutted out to meet us cradling a black and white, drooling, fur ball. She wore jeans with holes in both knees, a purple tank top, long ponytail, and the grin of a child introducing her parents to their first grandchild. I wrestled the puppy out of her arms and kissed the top of his soft head, he licked my face in return. Jackie…

By Laura Black I stood outside the bathroom door and listened for signs that my husband was in the shower. When I heard the whoosh of running water and Charles’ husky voice husky voice accompanying James Taylor singing, “I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain,” I knew it was safe. I tiptoed into the living…

A friend asked me to lunch today. In picking the venue, she exclaimed, “Let’s go someplace and indulge.” My blood pressure rose, and I smiled in anticipation. What a refreshing change from salads, vegetables and salmon—foods that squeeze into tight caloric confines. Here’s to periodic indulgence!!!