It's the first day of school. Kindergarten. I must have been worried the day before. Worried and excited. Would the other children know something I was supposed to know? Just in case, I pulled as many books out of our library as I could handle at five years of age, and stacked them on the porch of our house on Maplewood Avenue. When my mother saw me she asked what I was doing. "I'm starting school tomorrow," I told her, "so I have to know how to read." Somewhere there's a photo taken that day.
Tomorrow is the "first day of school" again, our first discussion and reading at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena, Fran's neck of the woods, though some of my old and dear friends will be there. I don't feel nervous, and I am excited, but deep down I wonder if there's something I should know that everybody else knows. I'm no longer five, I've learned the bulk of what I need to get through life, but is there something else? If only I could remember, but "remember" is probably just what I need to know.
If "remember" is that "something," I confess to it. Memory is a problem that seems to come with age, at least for me. If I've seen a movie I struggle to remember the title days later. I no longer know the hottest stars, though I certainly recognize familiar names from my world, the editing community. My husband and I have learned to compensate with lists and quips about "senior moments." I'm not as facile with the quizzes in the "In Flight" magazines, and I often find myself reading the same paragraph several times to process what I've just read.
What has not diminished, however, is a deepening appreciation for my life and the lives of those I love. My older sister Fran has always been in my life. We've shared every emotion. Who would have expected us to share in the publication of "Feeding Mrs. Moskowitz and The Caregiver" and begin this book tour together? Thank God we're friends! Now, let the adventure begin! Wait a minute....where did we put the airline tickets?
What they're saying about our new book:
"The elderly have quite a bit of wisdom, and often you'll get it whether you want it or not. "Feeding Mrs. Moskowitz & The Caregiver" is a pair of two novellas focusing on the topic of the elderly and their interactions with the people around them. 'Feeding Mrs. Moskowitz' is the story of the titular elderly lady and her encounters with a girl rapidly approaching middle age. 'The Caregiver' tells the tale of a caregiver and her job at an assisted living facility. "Feeding Mrs. Moskowitz & The Caregiver" is an enticing read that shouldn't be missed."
-- Midwest Review of Books
"The novellas are authentic, filled with believable characters and situations that resonate with our own life experiences. The stories are funny and poignant at the same time, teaching those who have not thought much about the aging process in the best way possible by fascinating and amazing us."
-- Anne M. Wyatt-Brown
"As someone who was the caregiver for two aging parents, both of whom lived into their nineties, I found Feeding Mrs. Moskowitz and The Caregiver: Two Stories by Barbara Pokras and Fran Yariv a delightful experience. It is a candid and humorous look at aging. .....It is well work reading whether one is a caregiver or not. This is a slice of life worth visiting."
-- Alan Caruba, Bookviews
"Caring for aging parents is one of the most common experiences sisters share, but few can transform their responsibility into bittersweet words of wisdom the way the Pokras sisters, Fran and Barbara, have done. This book, with its tender, funny, and revealing insights into the world of the elderly, is a must-read for every caretaker." -- Carol Saline, author of The New York Times bestseller, "Sisters"
"The novellas are beautiful little parables that are just not meant for caregivers or for the children of the elderly, bur for everyone -- as most of us will, eventually, take similar journeys to those taken by the residents of Sunset Hills, in one form or another." -- John McDonald, New York Journal of Books, award-winning novelist, screenwriter, playwright and graphic novel adaptor of the works of William Shakespeare.
-- Midwest Review of Books
"The novellas are authentic, filled with believable characters and situations that resonate with our own life experiences. The stories are funny and poignant at the same time, teaching those who have not thought much about the aging process in the best way possible by fascinating and amazing us."
-- Anne M. Wyatt-Brown
"As someone who was the caregiver for two aging parents, both of whom lived into their nineties, I found Feeding Mrs. Moskowitz and The Caregiver: Two Stories by Barbara Pokras and Fran Yariv a delightful experience. It is a candid and humorous look at aging. .....It is well work reading whether one is a caregiver or not. This is a slice of life worth visiting."
-- Alan Caruba, Bookviews
"Caring for aging parents is one of the most common experiences sisters share, but few can transform their responsibility into bittersweet words of wisdom the way the Pokras sisters, Fran and Barbara, have done. This book, with its tender, funny, and revealing insights into the world of the elderly, is a must-read for every caretaker." -- Carol Saline, author of The New York Times bestseller, "Sisters"
"The novellas are beautiful little parables that are just not meant for caregivers or for the children of the elderly, bur for everyone -- as most of us will, eventually, take similar journeys to those taken by the residents of Sunset Hills, in one form or another." -- John McDonald, New York Journal of Books, award-winning novelist, screenwriter, playwright and graphic novel adaptor of the works of William Shakespeare.
Friday, May 7, 2010
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Some of our favorites to share:
- Barbara's favorite movies: "Precious" "Inglorius Bastards" "The Orange Thief" (never released theatrically), anything by Frederick Wiseman, and "Stop Making Sense" (I worked on this!)
- Fran likes "ALL ABOUT EVE" with Bette Davis
- Another of Fran's favorites -- FIELDWORK by Mischa Berlinski
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