Category Archives: Family Life

How to Make a PB&J

Posted on March 8, 2023 by advicefrommarta

I have heard that a frequent job interview question for engineers is to explain how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Although I will never be an engineer, I do know how to make a peanut butter and … Continue reading →

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Bearing Fruit

Posted on July 27, 2022 by advicefrommarta

Once, when my grandfather was a little boy, he walked with his grandfather, the exquisitely named Shlomo Zalman, from one shtetl to the next. On the way there, Shlomo Zalman gave my grandfather half a banana and then carefully wrapped … Continue reading →

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Leaving

Posted on April 8, 2022 by advicefrommarta

The other day my dentist asked me if I had plans for the summer. I told him I’d be driving my daughter to college in upstate New York, by myself. He told me that his daughter went to college in … Continue reading →

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True Love

Posted on February 27, 2022 by advicefrommarta

Shortly after Valentine’s Day a friend of my daughter’s interviewed me about love. The two are working on a class project, a documentary theater piece. Each person in the class is interviewing three people of three different generations about love. … Continue reading →

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Expiration Dates

Posted on December 28, 2021 by advicefrommarta

I am cleaning out my mother’s pantry. Occasionally, when I find a particularly old expiration date, I stop to text my sister or a friend with news of what I’ve found. Granola – 2019 Bean Dip – 2018 In 1991 … Continue reading →

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Mr. Peabody’s Coal Train

Posted on December 12, 2021 by advicefrommarta

It’s Friday night, and my son is taking the El to a high school basketball game. It is “the big game” with their “cross-town rivals.” The trash talk online is brutal. He is wearing his school colors, a bright orange … Continue reading →

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Roadside Attraction

Posted on August 8, 2021 by advicefrommarta

On the second to last day of our trip we woke up, as we often do, in a Springhill Suites. This one was near the Buffalo airport. My husband is obsessed with his Mariott points and so, although we both … Continue reading →

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People in Stories

Posted on February 11, 2021 by advicefrommarta

When I was a little girl, we lived in Tanzania. I was only four when we went to Tanzania and so the house in Tanzania and the house in Louisville that we lived in before merge together in my memories. … Continue reading →

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What the New Year May Bring

Posted on January 1, 2021 by advicefrommarta

I do not remember what, if anything, we did for New Year’s Eve 2019. I know what my expectations were. I thought the year would be about my son and his turning 13 and his bar mitzvah. For a while, … Continue reading →

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A Bodhi Tree of One’s Own

Posted on December 6, 2020 by advicefrommarta

Yesterday on the radio I heard that this coming Tuesday, December 8th, is “Bodhi Day,” the day that Buddhists believe Siddhartha became the Buddha. I’ve been interested in Buddhism lately. I’ve been interested in its beliefs and in the idea … Continue reading →

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