Family – Page 16 – FindYourBuriedTreasure

Priorities change with a family emergency

“Where were you last week? I missed you!” This was what I heard from several people about the fact that I didn’t have a column in last week’s Villager. One person said, “I can’t even remember the last time your column wasn’t in the paper.” To tell you the truth, neither can I. And for those who are wondering about the reason, it was a family matter. My father-in-law was hospitalized with a life-threatening infection that required immediate surgery, so my husband and I pretty [...]

By bettyliedtke|September 2nd, 2016|Columns, Family, Health and Well-being, Values|Comments Off

An old house is becoming new again

“So, you’re really an empty nester now,” a friend said to me shortly after my son’s wedding last month. Her comment caught me a bit off guard, since my kids have been grown and gone for quite a while now. But with both of them now married, that makes my husband and me empty nesters in a whole new way. And it got us thinking about our house in a whole new way, too. Our son left home when he joined the Marines right out [...]

By bettyliedtke|August 19th, 2016|Columns, Family, Organizing|Comments Off

An airport experience shows a lack of courtesy

My husband and I were returning from an out-of-state trip. Our flight home was late Sunday night, after a long and busy day. As we approached our gate at the airport, we found just one seat open in a row of seven seats. Gentleman that he is, my husband motioned for me to sit down. I did, and as I looked around, I could feel my temperature rising. It wasn’t from the weather, but the fact that three of the seven seats were occupied not [...]

By bettyliedtke|July 29th, 2016|Columns, Family, Respect, Travel, Values|Comments Off

A beautiful day starts a beautiful new life

It was a beautiful, beautiful wedding. As the mother of the groom, I may be a bit biased, of course. But I know that everyone who was there was in full agreement. My son got married last weekend, in an outdoor ceremony on a sunny, gorgeous day. The reception was both rustic and elegant, although it doesn’t seem as though those two words would ever go together. There were some lovely touches I didn’t expect, like the sign near the entryway that said, “We know [...]

By bettyliedtke|July 22nd, 2016|Columns, Family|2 Comments

Enjoying a new “Independence Day”

I still remember when the first Independence Day movie came out 20 years ago. We were living in Virginia at the time, and one of the things I remember most – even before seeing the movie – was reading a commentary someone had written about it in a small, local publication. She insisted we should see the movie as a wake-up call, and should be taking steps to prepare ourselves in case of an alien attack, because it was absolutely realistic and possible that we [...]

By bettyliedtke|July 1st, 2016|Columns, Family, Holidays, Values|Comments Off

Old advice is new again

“Take some time to stop and smell the roses.” We’re all familiar with this saying, telling us we should take time out from our busy lives to notice and enjoy the good things that are all around us. I’m sure most of us would acknowledge the wisdom of the advice, although few of us probably follow it on a regular basis. I thought about this recently after hearing a friend talk about how much she enjoyed taking walks with her daughter. They would walk along [...]

By bettyliedtke|June 17th, 2016|Buried Treasure, Columns, Family, Health and Well-being, Values|Comments Off

Mayday can last all month

A friend of mine, who is a school principal as well as a mom, was talking recently about how crazy and hectic May is. That reminded me of a column I wrote years ago, when my kids were still in school. I dug it out of my files and sent a copy to my friend and a few other moms – who said it described their lives right now, too. So if you’re a mom who’s just about at the end of her rope by [...]

By bettyliedtke|May 27th, 2016|Columns, Family|Comments Off

Watch out for April snow and April fools

“Guess what? It’s snowing outside!” When I was young, that’s the greeting my sisters and I woke up to every year on April 1st. Mom would come into our bedrooms with the exciting news, but before we could jump out of bed and race to the window to see for ourselves, she’d add, “April Fool!” By then we were awake enough to realize for ourselves that we were now in the month of April. And it never snowed in April. April 1st came and went [...]

By bettyliedtke|April 8th, 2016|Columns, Faith, Family, Holidays|Comments Off

A stormy anniversary brings a timely reminder

“Do you know what today is?” my sister asked when she called me Sunday evening. “Besides Easter, I mean.” Did I forget someone’s birthday, or another special occasion? I immediately ran through my mental list. March 27. Nothing rang a bell. “The tornado,” she said. “Today is the 25th anniversary of the tornado.” She didn’t need to say any more than that. I immediately recalled the day, 25 years ago, when the town we lived in was devastated by a tornado that ripped through the [...]

By bettyliedtke|April 1st, 2016|Columns, Family|Comments Off

We can’t go back, so let’s go forward

“I want to go back in time and do this over.” That was my response recently when careless inattention caused me to miss one of the most important events of my life. Fortunately, I woke up from the dream I was having, and realized I hadn’t actually missed anything at all. The event was my son’s upcoming wedding. In my dream, it was the day of the wedding and my daughters – I had two in my dream – were out swimming in a neighborhood [...]

By bettyliedtke|March 25th, 2016|Columns, Family|Comments Off

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