Our stories can save lives
It just happened again. I was talking with someone I’ve known for quite a while now – she’s the founder of a women’s writing group I belong to – and our conversation turned to medical issues. At one point, I made a reference to the heart damage I sustained years ago from chemotherapy, and then I saw my friend’s jaw drop. She stared at me for a moment before replying. “That’s two things I just learned about you that I [...]
Making a game out of healthy habits has built-in rewards
I read an entertaining column in the weekend magazine of the StarTribune last Sunday, by a woman who was enjoying her new “toy:” a clip-on gadget that’s today’s version of a pedometer. Not only did it keep track of how many steps she took in a day, but it registered how many of those steps were going up and down stairs. She was excited about the fact that it was motivating her to do things she hadn’t been doing before, [...]
Put Your “Brave Mask” On
It was early on a Saturday morning, and I was getting frustrated. I was working on the book I’m writing about my first trip to Uganda, and I was on the very last section of the book. I had planned to spend the whole morning writing, and I knew exactly what I wanted to say. But the words just weren’t coming together. This actually happens to me a lot when I’m writing, and I’ve learned through experience that the best [...]
A good deed feeds the heart and soul
I was in Hopkins last week getting some service done on my car. The dealership where I bought the car and where I used to get my service work done went out of business not long ago, so I only recently started going to the place in Hopkins. Whenever I take my car in for service, I usually pack enough work to do – reading, writing, and whatever I can fit into a tote bag – and just wait there [...]
A shining star, a passing friend
A childhood friend of mine passed away last week. He lived in the house across the street from us, in a small town where everybody knew everybody else, and most of your relatives lived nearby. My grandma and grandpa lived two doors up from his house, and his grandparents lived two doors up from mine. Our parents knew each other long before either of us was born, and are still good friends today. He was the oldest of three brothers, [...]
Counting the moves, and counting the years
My daughter called the other day. In addition to the things we normally talk about on the phone, she asked if I remembered how old she was when we first moved from the Chicago area – where my husband and I grew up and where both of our kids were born – to Roanoke, Virginia, the first of several moves that eventually landed our family in Minnesota. I couldn’t answer off the top of my head, so I had to [...]