INTRODUCTION: When I was growing up, I wanted to be a journalist (I published newspapers for my grade school classmates and received a prestigious journalism award in high school). But I also enjoyed working with children and wanted to be a teacher. I was hired to teach at my Long Island, New York, alma mater, North Shore High School (I later moved to the Middle School). But, I never gave up my love of writing. I wrote my first story about returning to North Shore to substitute teach and sent it out to newspapers and magazines. Twelve rejection letters later, I decided to try The New York Times. Why not? I thought. If they turned me down, I could frame a rejection letter from the world’s greatest newspaper. But, they threw me off-balance by accepting it! My first published essay—in The New York Times! From there, I went on to write other essays for the Times, plus the Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Miami Herald, Newsday, The Denver Post, The New York Post, The Christian Science Monitor, The Toronto Globe & Mail, Family Circle, and Newsweek. In 1980, The Washington Post began a travel section and I began submitting manuscripts. Instead of writing about the canals of Venice or the fjords of Norway, mine were humor essays such as, The Joys of Jet Lag (the chores I happily do at 4 a.m. when I can’t sleep) and the title piece, Why Does My Social Life Pick Up When I Leave the Country? I retired from teaching in 2014, but I am still writing, mostly for Newsday where I have had 60 published essays. Overall, 138 pieces have appeared in newspapers and magazines and occasionally I’ve appeared in a new outlet: on-line. And, now, I’ve gathered these essays for this book. Not all of them are appearing here, but my favorites are. I hope you enjoy them!
