Carrie Classon

A couple of days ago, a friend of mine posted something written by a friend of his on Facebook. This is what she had to say: “I’ve been contemplating what I really miss in life. Why do I feel this empty space? I have not felt completely full in a very long time. I miss…

A new year is coming, and I am focusing on the small stuff. It is popular to make big, sweeping statements in a new year about the things that will change and be accomplished. I noticed a few years back that these grand announcements rarely had much effect. What mattered, if I wanted to live…

I put my feet on the floor, first thing in the morning, and take a look at them. They are not the most attractive feet, that’s just a fact. I have big feet and skinny ankles and it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see how much they resemble duck feet, but I try…

The fruit lady has my number. One of the things I like in Mexico—and other countries we have visited in the past—is buying fruits and vegetables from a stand, run by a family. I love wandering through the market, looking at all the unfamiliar things and asking questions. “Is this for today or for tomorrow?”…

It’s an odd experience watching someone fold your underwear. I was thinking this yesterday as I was waiting for my laundry. When my husband, Peter, and I packed to go to Mexico, we knew there would be a wide range of temperatures. San Miguel de Allende is in the mountains, so the days can be…

My husband, Peter, and I feel like social butterflies. We certainly are not. But it feels as if we are, because we are staying in a new city and finding it is easier to make new friends than any time since we were children. When Peter and I moved back to Minnesota to be closer…

We thought we would miss the festivities, which just shows how much we still have to learn about Mexico. My husband, Peter, and I arrived in San Miguel de Allende on the 2nd of November. “It’s too bad we’ll miss the Day of the Dead,” I told Peter when he made reservations. I knew a…

I am delighted to report that my mother has come around. I have been lobbying my mother for months to take pity on a little red squirrel who had acquired a great fondness for her, demonstrating his devotion by digging up all her flowerpots and gazing at her for minutes at a time through the…

My husband, Peter, says they are rushing the season. I’m not sure who “they” are. The Christmas Cartel, perhaps. The vast conspiracy of premature holiday merrymakers. Whoever they are, Peter does not approve. And he does have a point. There are still life-size skeletons scaling the walls of a huge brick house I walk by…

A few weeks before Halloween and many years ago, when I was still married to my former husband, he and I and a couple we knew all decided we would celebrate Halloween dressed as the Midwest. At the time, it seemed like a clever idea. I was from Minnesota, my former husband was from Wisconsin,…