MAYBE IT'S ME

Did you know that bridge was once the most popular game in America? EVERYBODY played. And now? Hardly anyone. So, why did I become obsessed with playing bridge? Why do any of us pursue the hobbies we pursue? Or do our hobbies pursue us? Why are we so afraid to admit we are who we really are? Why are some of us so afraid to admit we're average?

Why on earth would anyone miss the funky Catskills hotels and bungalow colonies where Jews vacationed for most of the 20th century because they weren't allowed to check into most gentile-owned resorts and didn't have the money to travel anywhere else? What do movies and TV shows like Dirty Dancing and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel get wrong? As someone who grew up there, don't get me started!

Are you spending a ridiculous proportion of your time in doctors' offices, at the gym, or in various beauty and wellness establishments? If we devote sall our time and energy to trying to stay healthy and youthful-looking, what is the purpose of being alive? Is there an age when you should just give up?

I signed up for what I assumed would be a very basic art class, strictly for beginners, but there on the stage stood a very handsome, entirely nude man I was expected to draw. What happens when we finally get up the courage to try to do something for which we've been told we have absolutely no talent? (Warning: this episode contains several instances of the anatomically correct word for what was hanging between that man's legs!)

My mother saw disaster lurking everywhere. Why did I take so many decades to believe she--and so many women like her--had a lot of reasons to be afraid, not only for herself but for all of us?

What happens when you finally get the toy of your dreams ... when you're in your sixties? Will an Erector set help your little girl become a physicist? What do we really want from our parents?

We're forgetting just how horrifying it was to live through the covid pandemic, especially if you were elderly, disabled, or otherwise at risk. We're forgetting how many loved ones we lost, how many survivors were left with lifetime damage, both physical and emotional. Given that the current administration has decimated our defenses against any future pandemics, I felt the need to offer a reminder.

Why have I battled dybbuks, injuries, sexism, and the infirmities of age to continue playing competitive tennis? What has Title IX meant to women of my generation? And, if you'll excuse me for being corny, what can tennis teach us about how to live our lives?

I've been terrified of dying all my life. Now that I'm in my sixties, I'm even more frightened. So why on earth would I decide to jump out of an airplane?

Since my earliest years, I've been told I couldn't catch a tune in a gallon bucket. Nothing scared me more than singing in front of another human being, let alone an audience. So, what prompted me to take a class in which I would be required to do just that? Why do so many of us take other people's judgments about our abilities as fact when we could, if provided with a kind and generous teacher, learn to do nearly anything?