“The convent was gone, burned to the ground in a kitchen fire years ago.”1 Would you like to read a short story that begins with this sentence? Writing courses and journals stress the importance of first sentences. They have to have “grab." They have to make the reader want to read on. Every Sunday, I …
Continue reading Grab. Grab. Grab. How grabby are your first sentences?
“I’ve put stickers behind everything valuable in my house because I don’t want my kids to throw them out when I die,” a friend said at dinner. Another chimed in, “Mine will too. They’ll get a dumpster and have a party.” A third said, "I've already given my kids everything I want them to keep." …
Six hours ago, I turned seventy-two, so I am planning a long-weekend Gratitude Party.I will start my seventy-third year by hearing Jane Pauley talk about her new book, Your Life Calling: Re-imagining The Rest of Your Life , at a luncheon at the Union League Club. An appropriate title for a birthday celebration, agree?Soon after I …
At -15 degrees, with a-30 to -50 degrees windchill, what's an older person to do? Take a walk and get frostbitten? No, stay home and enjoy the view. Here's mine this morning: But, as time passed, the day deteriorated. I worked on my computer for three hours trying to sync one thing with another. Much …
Continue reading Driving Adult Daughters Bats on Chicago’s Frigid Days
One day I was fine, and the next day I was not. We know life can change in an instant—an accident, a life-threatening diagnosis, a surgery—but I, for sure, never dreamed of having to learn to live with chronic itching. But I will have to. Following eight months of total body itching, accompanied by numerous …
Imagine my delight reading the August/September' AARP magazine. On page fifteen: "Is it time to divorce your doctor?" The content fits right in with what I've written about doctors' therapeutic communication skills, or lack thereof. Author Caroline E. Mayer lists six reasons why it may be time to change doctors, all dealing with "substandard communication" …
That line was the funniest one I heard last week. The context? Imagine retirees, and the gal saying this to her husband. I’m sure you can conjure up many scenes that you want to say, perhaps yell, that line. Before I retired in 2000 I was aware of potential problems with Marv and me being …
“We call it couple’s therapy,” the young fella said who was orienting us to the art of paddling a tandem kayak. “Either you make it or you don’t,” he added, laughing. As we stood next to the Chicago River last Saturday, my husband, Marv, and I laughed along. I remembered when we’d tried to take …
It was only a garage sale, for Pete’s sake. So, what are the tears about? I sit at home this morning with wet eyes. I’m trying to clean up the usual accumulation on my desk, but instead I’m crying. Why? Because I’m sifting through the photos from last weekend on my phone. My husband and …
"To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die."---Thomas Campbell. Thus read the bottom of the commemoration card yesterday at the service we attended for one of our pastors. A Service of Witness to the Resurrection in Celebration of the Life of John. H. Boyle Think of a warm, gentle, quiet man who …
Continue reading A Tribute to a Life of Humility and Caring and Faith
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