My past life has now been shredded. I've sorted and purged my multitude of banker's boxes and file cabinet drawers. I'm starting over with a clean slate! What is not in my memory is no longer retrievable. When Marie Kondo came out with her book, "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up," my husband and I …
Category: Health
My Brother: A Bit of Nostalgia
When I was born, he told the neighbors, "It's another girl." He was eleven and already had three sisters. When I was five, I rode on his handlebars to kindergarten. We crossed over a brook. I was the only kid in kindergarten that knew that water was H20. Then my brother left for college. When …
Cover Reveal of My Cancer Memoir – “Marv Taking Charge”
Today, I happily present the cover of my completed book and announce that Marv Taking Charge is scheduled to be released this fall. Marv liked red. I like script, no borders, and a metaphorical background. So that is the information I gave to my publisher Andy Carmichael at Deep River Books; DRB's cover editor, Robin …
Continue reading Cover Reveal of My Cancer Memoir – “Marv Taking Charge”
The day my garage door broke…
I purged my closet of twenty-seven items. Does this “first line” grab your attention? Do you want to know more? Do you wonder if there’s a correlation between these two events? Is this something you even care to read about? The goal for first lines is to keep the reader reading. Read the first lines …
Growing Older: On Turning 80
"What are you trying to prove?" my friend asked in a text. I had just sent her a photo of me stuck in my closet. I'd been trying to put a new recliner together and had to get behind it. Since it was somewhat heavy, I shimmied myself behind it into the closet. To see …
Fibromyalgia is a pain! Literally.
So I've done it again--eaten too much sugar, gotten myself too busy, forgotten to pace myself. And I'm paying for it in pain. Dollars would be easier. I haven't given an update of my fibromyalgia for a long time, so last night I searched for the word in my search box. And below is what …
Missing My Sister Esther
“You’re coming up to a small town that has an historical marker,” Esther texted to me as Marv and I drove along I-10 in Texas. We were on our way to Arizona in January of 2017; Esther was grounded in Michigan during her chemo and radiation treatments for esophageal cancer. She did not despair that …
Grief at Thirty-six Months: Honey, would you please…
Always busy in the garage, he'd be shocked that I've put furniture together! Come back for just a day? I want to tell you about— The water softener spraying water over the furnace room The beetles eating your rose bushes The pipe that burst; the hole in the bedroom wall The dying evergreens I had …
Continue reading Grief at Thirty-six Months: Honey, would you please…
Thoughts on Character
"I have enough character," I've been known to say when anyone tells me that a trying experience for me "builds character." I've thought a lot about character this last week as I dove into David Brooks' The Road to Character (2015) for a book club discussion. Not a quick read. I could say just slogging …
N is for Normal
An entry for the Blogging from A to Z in April Challenge I wince when I think of normal, especially as used in the phrase getting back to normal. In several discussions this past week, I concluded many of us feel rudderless. What do we do now that we're vaccinated and things are starting to …
Write Along with Me 