Okay, friends and family! I am hearing from you that you are wondering how I am. I mostly disappeared after the insertion of a pain pump for my new diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer. On June 19, I had a Medtronic pain pump inserted into a "pocket" incision made into my right upper abdomen. The …
Continue reading Adventure on Holy Ground #6 / Pancreatic Cancer
In 2005, my only brother died at age 74 of pancreatic cancer. At the time, my husband and I were living in Chicago, and I had been impressed by Joseph Cardinal Bernadin's memoir of his final months of living with the disease. His book, The Gift of Peace, had been published in 1997, and I …
I apologize for being negligent in responding to all of you. For weeks now, no months, you have urgently showed up in my Friend box asking me to be your Friend. Now, whatever photos you may have seen of me, might make me look like I need Friends, and perhaps that’s why you landed on …
I'm happy to repost my friend Marianna's account of our recent Chicago weekend. We had to repeat last year's trip to Printers Row Lit Fest, minus my face plant on Michigan Avenue, so we'd replace the unpleasant memories of that earlier trip. We had a marvelous time! Back to Chicago: A Second Chance My friend Lois …
Continue reading Catching up! A Repeat Chicago Trip and a Move
My friends and family know I love to take writing classes in Iowa City. A few weeks ago, I took my nineteenth course. I specifically looked for an easy class, because I didn't want to churn out several pages a day or give written feedback each night to my fellow eleven students. So I signed …
Continue reading Iowa Summer Writing Festival – the Work and the Surprise
Sitting at this delightful coffeehouse in South Haven, Michigan, is a memory I want to commit to the page. The door is open with fans circulating the warmish air. Another place where I stopped was so cold from the A/C that I simply couldn't stay. I've hung out here in other years when I've come …
Continue reading Dr. David Fletcher’s Review of “Marv Taking Charge” – In Appreciation
Zonk--to fall soundly asleep or relax completely. The last day of the Blogging from A to Z in April Challenge. Ready to zonk out accurately describes my life at 82 at this time! I always want to finish something I've started, but completing A to Z has been a challenge. Each blog post takes one …
Participating in the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge Early on when I started this blog (2010), I often wrote about the importance of telling your story. I said if you don’t, your words will die with you. I still feel that way, only more so. Since I retired from teaching nursing in 2000, …
Nothing. When I woke up yesterday, I decided to do nothing. After a packed and scheduled week, I rationalized that I owed it to myself to do nothing. I almost succeeded. To do nothing, I soon found out, I had to do something. I could not just lie in bed with my eyes shut. Keeping …
With Marv at Desert Palms Presbyterian Church - 2/11/2018, days after his diagnosis When I'm in AZ at my son's home, I still attend the church that Marv and I found online when we were in this area before: Desert Palms Presbyterian Church in Sun City West. A few weeks ago, with an invitation and …
Write Along with Me 