Family – Page 18 – FindYourBuriedTreasure

The first Father’s Day without Dad is memorable and meaningful

Father’s Day is going to be bittersweet this year. The sweet part is that my husband has just returned home from a business trip, and we’ll be able to spend the weekend – particularly Sunday – catching up, relaxing, and celebrating Father’s Day. The not-so-sweet part is that this will be the first Father’s Day without my dad, who passed away in January. It still gnaws at me that I can’t call him every Sunday, as we’ve done ever since first moving away from the [...]

By bettyliedtke|June 13th, 2014|Columns, Faith, Family, Holidays|Comments Off

Making a long story short

“For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.” Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway, who was a master of the short story and of tight, spare writing, once made a bet that he could write an entire story in six words. With the above “ad,” he won the bet. This story – both the one by Hemingway and the one about him – has inspired a number of literary organizations and publications over the years to sponsor writing contests challenging participants to write stories consisting of a [...]

By bettyliedtke|March 7th, 2014|Buried Treasure, Columns, Family, Gifts and Talents, Writing|4 Comments

Letting go helps us to hold on

I spent last weekend at my dad’s house – the house that we moved into when I was nine years old, and that for me defines the word “home” when you talk about going home for the holidays. The main reason for the visit was to help celebrate my nephew’s 13th birthday on Saturday, and to attend the rock concert he was performing in that same day. He’s been taking guitar lessons for about four years, and every three or four months, the school arranges [...]

By bettyliedtke|February 28th, 2014|Columns, Family, Values|Comments Off

A gentle, wonderful man comes home

The world has lost a gentle and wonderful man. Most of the world never knew him, of course, and has no idea what a treasure he was – or how much he will be missed, and by how many people. But I do. After being healthy, active, and extremely social well into his 80’s, my father fell victim to a number of health issues and incidents that kept him either in the hospital or in a care center since early November. He passed away at [...]

By bettyliedtke|February 14th, 2014|Columns, Faith, Family|19 Comments

Lots of pieces make up the puzzle of our lives

One of the gifts I received this Christmas was a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle of Betty Boop. I’ve always been a Betty Boop fan and collector, and I love doing jigsaw puzzles. One of my fond childhood memories is of sitting at a card table set up in the living room, working on jigsaw puzzles with my mom, dad, and sisters. I started the Betty Boop puzzle on the weekend after New Year’s Day, setting it up in our family room and working on it while [...]

By bettyliedtke|January 24th, 2014|Buried Treasure, Coaching, Columns, Family, Uganda|Comments Off

A classic story warms a chilly night

I went to see Fiddler on the Roof at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres Saturday night. There was something ironic about going to a show set in a Russian village when the temperature right outside our own home was ten degrees below zero. Still, the story is one that warms the heart. Watching the show on Saturday night, I was fine until they got to the song, “Sunrise, Sunset.” That’s when I started to get a little choked up. I was at the theatre with my [...]

By bettyliedtke|January 10th, 2014|Columns, Family|2 Comments

Memories and traditions warm up the holidays

When I was very young, Santa Claus used to visit our house on Christmas Eve. Not in the middle of the night – leaving presents under the tree when we were nestled all snug in our beds – but early in the evening, when we were still up and wide awake. I remember one year when we needed to make a quick trip to the grocery store on Christmas Eve. We kids were distraught, afraid we might miss Santa’s visit. Although my mom assured us [...]

By bettyliedtke|December 20th, 2013|Columns, Faith, Family, Holidays|4 Comments

A change of plans brought family together

My dad, who just turned 86, fell in the shower not long ago. He banged up his elbow pretty badly and needed stitches. He then developed an infection, which did not respond to antibiotics, and ended up in the hospital having surgery on his arm. He’s now at a care center that provides rehab and therapy. So my husband, my sister and I decided to drive to Chicago over the Thanksgiving weekend and spend time with family there rather than celebrating the holiday here at [...]

By bettyliedtke|December 6th, 2013|Columns, Family, Health and Well-being, Holidays|Comments Off

Remember the giving as well as the thanks

I’m doing Thanksgiving a little differently this year. That doesn’t mean I’ll be making any changes to the traditional meal, or abandoning time-honored practices and customs that go along with the day. And it certainly doesn’t mean I won’t be thinking, talking, or writing about all of the people and things I am grateful for. What it means is that before I focus on the “thanks” part of Thanksgiving this year, I’m going to concentrate on the “giving” part. I want to spend time reflecting [...]

By bettyliedtke|November 28th, 2013|Columns, Family, Holidays, Values|Comments Off

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, and I was the second [...]

By bettyliedtke|September 27th, 2013|Columns, Family|Comments Off

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