As the years rolled by, I occasionally wondered when I’d see the first of the lasts — the last time in my life I’ll buy a particular thing, the last time I’ll visit a special place, experience a big ...

As the temperature was sliding into a deep freeze expected to last a couple of weeks, we received a call on the first Saturday in January. It was Daughter No. 3, calling from her house at our family ...

As I put a ladder up against the front-porch roof one day last month, my neighbor shouted from across the street, “Painting the house?” “Nope,” I said. “Painting the gutters.” She was perplexed, ...