In 1975, I started working as an editorial assistant for the American Gas Association in Rosslyn, Virginia. The association represented...

Forgiveness is a hard reckoning. It requires an honest examination of the sins against you, their long-term impact, and the other party’s...

I’m working at my first job as an editor at a natural gas association in Rosslyn in Arlington when I realize Dad’s office at the Agency...

Eddie comes home from India at the end of the summer of 1966. Like the others, he stops in European capitals along the way. He has a...

Nothing says summer better than the Good Humor ice cream truck. You can hear it coming from a few blocks away. It rolls right down 78th...

About 25 years ago, Perry and I were having dinner in a bistro in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. A couple was sitting at the next table....

The von Trapp Family Singers arrived in New York City in October of 1938. Within a week, they started their American tour in a chartered...

One day, I asked Agathe if the von Trapp family had indeed fled over the mountains from Austria to escape the Nazis. “Vell,” Agathe said...

The 1920s and '30s brought dramatic changes to the von Trapp family. Agathe’s mother, Agathe Whitehead von Trapp, died of scarlet fever...

If you are a fan of the wildly popular movie, The Sound of Music, this is a spoiler alert. Years ago, I represented Agathe von Trapp, the...

What's your favorite quote from a famous person? Here's mine: If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me....

The Sears and Roebuck Company is founded in Chicago in 1888. It's first product sold is watches. The company becomes famous for its mail...

(Above) Shirley Pfoutz in about 1960. My mother enjoyed a brief flurry of attention from the publishing industry. During that time, some...

Since the pandemic began, my husband Perry and I have stayed close to home. Where we used to eat out several times a week, we only go out...

When it comes to our behavior, Sadie can be a harsh taskmistress. One day, I open a banana to find it rotten through and through. As I’m...

Sadie is a black woman who at one time was a hell raiser. Over the years it begins to take its toll, and she finds religion. She...

The family was gathered out at the Cabin John house. I was taking the opportunity to wash some clothes. I had my own place but it didn't...

Throughout her ups and downs, despite four children, a divorce, depression, and a job, mysteriously my mother finds time to write. She...

The Daniels place is a tidy two-story house with cramped rooms settled onto a large packet of land. The Daniels moved to Cabin John from...

There’s always something going on at Junior’s place. With five children, an absent mother, and the friends that come to drink and smoke,...