Readers, thank you for 15 years of sharing my reality

“How long does it take you to write a column?” is one of three questions I’ve often been asked since I started writing Senior Moments 15 years ago.

And the answer is that I try to follow the advice of the King in “Alice in Wonderland”: “Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”

This can be quite a challenge when I write about my conversations with the moon. It’s not always easy to determine where they end, or sometimes even where they begin. They just float into my space and we pick up in the middle of our last talk. Next question: “Are your stories true?” The stories are my truths as I know them. My late husband used to call this “Patricia’s reality.”

On a trip to London in the 1960s with my college roommate, I became infatuated with a handsome British police officer, or bobby, patrolling Fleet Street. I was already in a state of wonder about being on the infamous street of newspapers and publishing houses, so heightened senses may have been responsible for my instant attraction to a man who never spoke a word to me.

Throughout the week, I kept finding reasons to walk the hallowed street so I could stop and smile at him. He remained stone-faced like I wasn’t there. Then one day while I was smiling at him, he smiled back. At least I think he did.

I can’t be certain whether it actually happened or I wanted it to happen so much that I thought it into reality. I can only tell you that all these years later, I can still picture that smile. Even if my imagination conjured it up, I’m still loving it.

Last question: “Where do you get your ideas?”

Anywhere. That’s the fun thing about Moments, senior or otherwise. They are everywhere, all the time, waiting to be harvested and tasted, like the lemons on my tree.

Thank you, Senior Moments readers, for laughing and crying and sharing your thoughts with me for the last 15 years.

I’m kicking off my next year with the publication of my memoir. Stay tuned.