One euphemism that took me a while to understand and perplexed me was le canto el gallo. The rooster sang to her. I was eight and in Puerto Rico for the summer when I heard it for the first time.

The phrase is a cliche now: I got the rug pulled out from under me, but when you've had it really happen to you it really does make sense. It's that moment when you’re standing there, looking around and taking things in and you suddenly get yanked off your feet unexpectedly landing on your ass and wondering WTF just happened.

Mom would have been 80 this year. I wonder what she would have been like now as a grandmother. How would I see her as an adult?

Some thoughts on Breast Cancer Awareness Month from someone that's been through the storm.

I had a conversation with my son a while back about how sometimes we come across some policy or rule that just doesn’t seem to make sense. Sometimes we just can’t accept something as well, “that’s just the way it is” (thanks Bruce Hornsby for the earworm now). I don’t remember what prompted the conversation, but I recalled my own personal story from high school in NYC.