The column "Find Your Buried Treasure" appears weekly in the Chanhassen (MN) Villager. This column was published on June 30, 2011. Our family’s 4th of July celebration will be pretty traditional. Our son will come over for a visit. In the morning, we’ll stake out our favorite spot for watching the parade, and later on we’ll enjoy the parade and the other festivities taking place in town. At night, we’ll watch some of the many area fireworks....
The column "Find Your Buried Treasure" appears weekly in the Chanhassen (MN) Villager. This column was published on June 23, 2011. I had a crazy and challenging day not long ago. It was a Tuesday, and I had a coaching call first thing in the morning with a client who lives out of state. We usually do video sessions via Skype, but for some reason we couldn’t get a connection and had to do our call the old-fashioned way – by phone. This wasn’t a [...]
The column "Find Your Buried Treasure" appears weekly in the Chanhassen (MN) Villager. This column was published on June 9, 2011. Several people have told me how impressed and inspired they were by the woman I wrote about in my column last week. She’s in her late 70s, and contacted me recently about Dream Coaching because she knows she’s got some talents and gifts that she’s not using, and she doesn’t want to waste them. “I’ve got 25 good years left,” she told me, “and I want to make the most of them....”
The column "Find Your Buried Treasure" appears weekly in the Chanhassen (MN) Villager. This column was published on May 12, 2011. The last time I slept outside in a tent was eight years ago. It wasn’t even a tent, actually, but a large cardboard box. I was chaperoning a homeless awareness experience my daughter was taking part in, which was designed to raise funds, as well as awareness, for the homeless. The thing I remember most about the event was how bone-chillingly cold I felt during the night. The chaperones, as well as the kids, were allowed to bring only one blanket, plus whatever clothes we were willing to wear or carry for 24 hours straight. And even though I was on the lawn of our church property, with my car visible in the nearby parking lot, I remember thinking – as I shivered and shuddered and dozed fitfully – that I might really die before morning.
The column "Find Your Buried Treasure" appears weekly in the Chanhassen (MN) Villager. This column was published on May 5, 2011. The wedding was out of this world. I say that partly because it had an “outer space” theme, and partly because everything about it was stunning. But mostly, because – well, because it was my daughter’s wedding. Since she lives in Florida now, and since that’s where her husband is from – and I’m still getting used to saying the word “husband” instead of boyfriend or fiancé – that’s where the wedding took place.
The column "Find Your Buried Treasure" appears weekly in the Chanhassen (MN) Villager. This column was published on April 28, 2011. Much of the world is preparing to watch the royal wedding this weekend. According to magazine polls and newspaper articles I’ve read, over 80% of us here in the states will be watching the ceremony as Prince William and Kate Middleton become husband and wife. Restaurants, organizations, and individuals are planning activities and events that include watching the ceremony on television as it occurs, even though the wedding will take place very, very early in the morning, our time...
The column "Find Your Buried Treasure" appears weekly in the Chanhassen (MN) Villager. This column was published on March 3, 2011. Ever since I was in college, it was a dream of mine to be a newspaper columnist. Over the next 25 years or so, I had a number of writing submissions published in newspapers and other publications. I won several newspaper writing contests. And, when my kids were young and playing AYSO Soccer, I was the person responsible for getting game reports into the local paper – although the only journalistic requirements for that were to say who won, list the game scores, and make sure every kid on the team was mentioned at least once in each article....
The column "Find Your Buried Treasure" appears weekly in the Chanhassen (MN) Villager. This column was published on February 10, 2011. I was in my 40s when my husband, kids and I moved from the Chicago area – where we were born and raised – to Roanoke, Virginia. It was the first of several moves we made to different parts of the country. After a few months of living in Virginia, one of my neighbors asked, “So, Betty, are you starting to like it here in Roanoke, or do you still miss Chicago?” My one-word answer: “Yes...”
The column "Find Your Buried Treasure" appears weekly in the Chanhassen (MN) Villager. This column was published on February 3, 2011. My husband and I flew to Chicago last weekend. It was the first time I’ve been on a plane since full body scanners were installed at the airport and the controversy began over the pat-down of passengers who refused to go through full-body scans. A number of people have complained – and even initiated lawsuits – over the pat-downs they describe as an aggressive and humiliating violation of their rights and their privacy. For several years now, I’ve had to go through the full pat-down every time I travel by air. Not because of any issues over a full-body scan, but because I’ve had a pacemaker implanted due to heart damage caused by chemotherapy years ago...
The column "Find Your Buried Treasure" appears weekly in the Chanhassen (MN) Villager. This column was published on December 23, 2010. “Christmas bells, those Christmas bells, ringing through the land, bringing peace to all the world. And good will to man.” You may recognize those words as the chorus from “Snoopy’s Christmas,” a song about Charlie Brown’s pet beagle and his Christmas Eve battle against the Bloody Red Baron of Germany. The Red Baron was a World War 1 ace fighter pilot in real life, and also – occasionally – in the “Peanuts” comic strip. In the song, the Red Baron forces Snoopy’s plane down behind enemy lines. But then – inspired perhaps by the sound of Christmas bells from a nearby village – instead of shooting Snoopy, the Red Baron offers him a holiday toast and wishes him a Merry Christmas...