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A Happy Anniversary

We just passed the one-year anniversary of my husband’s heart attack. It’s not something we went out to celebrate, but we did take notice and reflect. In some ways, it feels like it’s been much longer than a year, but in other ways, it feels more like, “One year? Already?” In many ways, he’s back to how he was before having a heart attack. In other ways, it’s changed both our lives. After his surgery, his doctors warned him it [...]

By |February 11th, 2023|Columns, Faith, Family, Health and Well-being, Travel|

Coming out of the closet

I have to admit that every so often, while writing a column or blog post, I worry that the topic I’m writing about is so ordinary and mundane that everyone reading it will be bored to tears, and quit reading halfway through – or sooner. Not only that, but I wonder if at the same time, I’m exposing all my faults and flaws, and showing how ordinary, mundane, and disorganized my life can be. Invariably, however, those posts end up [...]

By |February 6th, 2023|Columns, Organizing|

A Sentimental Journey

We’re cleaning out a closet in the back room, the one that’s become a storage unit. The one you joke about, saying you need to put a helmet on before opening the closet door – except it’s not really a joke. One of the shelves holds bags and stacks of gift boxes, wrapping paper, and greeting cards, and anytime I reach for anything, most of the rest usually comes flying down with it. The closet also holds Christmas decorations, photos [...]

By |January 30th, 2023|Columns, Family, Organizing|

A Visit with Old Friends

We had a visit last week from some out-of-state friends. We didn’t know ahead of time exactly when they would be here, or how long they’d be able to stay, because they were taking a road trip from Chicago and visiting some other relatives and places along the way. But we had done a grocery run anticipating company, and I baked some cookies and sourdough bread ahead of their arrival. The rest, we played by ear. We have known this [...]

By |January 22nd, 2023|Columns, Family, Travel, Values|

A Different Way of Doing Things

The writing group I belong to used to meet weekly. That was before COVID. Then, for a while, we didn’t meet at all. Eventually, we started getting together via Zoom, although we didn’t meet every week. Like many people and organizations, we discovered there were pros and cons to Zoom meetings. They were better than not being able to meet at all, and allowed long-distance members to take part. But technical glitches were frustrating and annoying. When it was okay [...]

By |January 16th, 2023|Columns, Toastmasters, Writing|

Just a little time

A friend of mine commented on last week’s blog about my New Year’s Resolution to spend an hour, first thing in the morning, writing. He suggested that one hour might be too big of a commitment at first, and that it would be better to start with a shorter amount of time – 15 minutes, perhaps, or even just 10. I’m sure many people would question how long it would take to write a book – or accomplish anything, for [...]

By |January 9th, 2023|Accountability, Achieving Dreams and Goals, Columns, Writing|