Archives What I Really Know

What I Really Know About Family Get-Togethers: Brandy in the Soufflé

I loved the holidays as a kid­—all the family gathering together. I could see down the road from our kitchen window. “When will they get here?” I’d ask my mother for the millionth time. Sweating, with flour up to her elbows and a wisp of hair dangling across her face, she wouldn’t even look up from the pie dough spread out before her: “Not yet, I hope. I still have to make the pumpkin filling, and will you peel the potatoes?”

November 20, 2009

What I Really Know About Tough Choices: Stepping In

A reader writes about taking care of her dad for a What I Really Know essay on tough choices.

November 19, 2009

What I Really Know About Tough Choices: My Father’s Last Wishes

A reader writes a "What I Really Know" essay about her father's last wishes and carrying out his advance directives.

November 16, 2009

What I Really Know About Tough Choices: Why Not Me?

Time to move from the shadows of my easy chair of thinking and into the bright light of action. Time to tell my oncologist my decisions about breast cancer surgery.

November 5, 2009

What I Really Know About Tough Choices: A Decision About John

Judy Diaddigo from Gainesville, Ga., writes a What I Really Know essay on tough choices and her foster child.

October 30, 2009

What I Really Know About Television: Digital Conversion Woes

Analog television, my faithful companion and window to the world, was recently replaced by digital television, source of frustration. With digital, the menu is sparse and unreliable and the “No Signal” message is all too familiar.

October 22, 2009

What I Really Know About Television: High-Minded Pursuits

I rarely read anymore. Instead, I watch TV. And much as I long to expand my mind, to learn new information and skills, and—let’s face it—to sound more intelligent at parties, these intentions always lose out to the absolute comfort and reliable certainty of watching my favorite TV dramas.

October 15, 2009

What I Really Know About Television: Meeting Lois Lane

A reader writes about meeting the real Lois Lane through the power of television.

October 8, 2009

What I Really Know About Television: Time Together

I still believe that my grandparents would never have resumed talking if television hadn’t brought them back together.

October 5, 2009

What I Really Know About Legacy: Perennial Blooms

A reader from Maine writes about what she really knows about the legacy of roses.

September 25, 2009

What I Really Know About Legacy: My Changing Heritage

Although my daughters and grandchildren remain a top priority, my legacy will be the thousands of kids through the coming years who, because of the work of Kids First and my role in its development, will break the insidious cycle of child abuse and live wholesome and happy lives.

September 10, 2009

What I Really Know About Legacy: Genetic Heritage

I thought that my father, born to Polish parents, was Polish in every sense of the word, and assumed I had inherited that legacy. But recently, through DNA testing, I discovered I have no Polish in me at all.

September 1, 2009

What I Really Know About Legacy: Mama's Cedar Chest

A reader writes a What I Really Know essay about memory lane and a cedar chest.

August 27, 2009

What I Really Know About Legacy: Mama's Cedar Chest

A reader writes a What I Really Know essay about memory lane and a cedar chest.

August 20, 2009

What I Really Know About Legacy: Music Lessons

When I was in the third grade, my mother bought an old upright piano. She had always wanted to play when she was a little girl but never had the opportunity. She decided I should take piano lessons.

August 13, 2009