Paula W. Millet,  Author

I was eight years old, visiting my grandma, who answered the door with several band aid strips strategically placed on her face. I thought that she had been terribly injured until she smiled broadly and welcomed me inside. My curiosity was piqued, of course, but since...

The electric opener made quick work of the canned fish. I carefully drained the water and emptied the contents into a small bowl. Without thinking much about it, I added the chopped eggs, mayonnaise, pickles, and a dash of mustard while the bread toasted. For the secon...

The package of hamburger buns had been ripped open with two partially eaten. Crumbs were scattered all over the kitchen counter and onto the floor. Only two of us live in this house. I knew that I certainly hadn’t made the mess. I sighed as I went in search of my husba...

The call came before I had poured my first cup of coffee, but I promptly answered since I had been waiting for it for several weeks. The voice on the other end of the line was polite and professional. I laughed nervously as we exchanged pleasantries. She was from the s...

It is almost Halloween. Ghouls and goblins and pumpkins are readily available for purchase in the stores. Oh, and ghosts, of course. I have always thought of ghost as a noun. She thought she saw a ghost. Or an adjective. He loved to tell ghost stories. But recently, it...

I don’t sleep well. It is one of the unwelcomed side effects that has come with the cancer. Sometimes, when insomnia strikes, I lie in bed making up silly songs or having serious conversations with God. These moments are comforting, a nocturnal gift. But sometimes, I e...

     And often, it isn’t the grand gestures which become the most important. Sometimes, it is the diligence, the paying attention to the smallest things, the smiles offered to a stranger, the kind gesture to someone in need, or the sympathetic ear given to a friend. Th...

     Over the past year I have had a blank page in my idea notebook labeled with a simple two-word title, “my obituary.” At diagnosis, my doctor had indicated that it would be wise to get my affairs in order. Somehow, every time I think of that term it is accompanied b...

Every event in the world and in our individual lives happens for a reason. Often it is a counterpoint to an ordered existence of opposites. While there is joy, there will be sorrow; while there is good, there will be evil; while there is health, there will be sickness....

I was one of those toddlers who liked to dance in public, just to make people laugh. But I started my real interest in the dramatic when I was in kindergarten, reciting a Christmas poem. I got the one about getting nothing in my stocking because of my questionable beha...