Regal. That’s what folks would say. Like a queen, sitting on her throne. She sits, silently, in the right-hand corner of room 2139E in the nursing home. Sitting as always in her blue satiny upholstered recliner. She rarely reclines anymore, though, because she hasn’t got the strength to pull the lever to lift the footrest. …
Continue reading In Memory of My Mother on Our Mutual Birthday
If you've been looking for the trip of a lifetime, do I have the trip for you. We're just home from a 12-day Trans American/Canadian rail trip that I want to tell you about in the next few posts. But, first, and most importantly, I want to tell you in the most positive way that …
I'm looking forward to tomorrow night, September 30, when I will speak once again at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. Last time, soon after Caring Lessons came out, I talked about why nurses should tell their stories. This time, I'm taking a viewpoint from my Christian background on why all of us should tell our …
Continue reading Telling Our Stories / Hope College – September 30, 2014, 7pm – Science Auditorium
They’re soft. They’re warm. They’re innocent. They’ve not yet seen work or hardship or disappointment. They are the hands of my preschool granddaughter. As I sit here this morning at my computer, photos of a recent visit scrolling my iPad, my granddaughter’s hands are bringing forth tears. Why? Months separate our visits, so I savor …
“Do you want to do a camel ride,” my daughter asked on a recent visit to her city’s zoo. “No,” I said. “I have no need to ride a camel.” “Oh, come on, isn’t that on your bucket list?” “Nope. Never has been and never will be,” I said, knowing a safari was never an …
I love to go to Iowa. Not just to glide past the flat lands of corn on I-80, or to roll along the miles of lightly forested hills on I-88, or, as a city dweller, to have the chance to drive my 2000 Beetle anywhere, or simply to savor a McD's cone alongside the Mississippi …
Continue reading Iowa Summer Writing Festival – A Typical Day / 2014
Thanks to Jan Weissmiller, poet and co-owner of Prairie Lights, Caring Lessons: A Nursing Professor's Journey of Faith and Self will soon be shelved in this much-loved independent bookstore in Iowa City. When I attend the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, as I did last week, I hang out at Prairie Lights between classes and evenings. You'd …
Continue reading Caring Lessons / Prairie Lights / Iowa City / 2014
Hey, everybody! Drop by this Saturday between 10 and 2 to see that Caring Lessons and I have finally made it to the Printers Row Lit Fest. Special pricing for the Fest will be $10.00 (normally $13.99). We'll be located at the book tent labeled Y, as in Yes. Ever since Caring Lessons came out almost …
Continue reading Caring Lessons / Printers Row Lit Fest / Chicago 2014
Sometimes I get weird questions from people when it comes up that I underline a lot when I’m reading a book. “Why,” they ask, “would you want to mark it all up?” I want to scream, “And why wouldn’t I? Many writers write so beautifully that I simply have to underline their spot-on character descriptions, …
Imagine sitting next to your sister (or anyone), turning to look her in the eye, and saying, for the first time, “You are loved by Christ.” Last week, I did just that while attending the session of Sharon Garlough Brown, pastor and spiritual director, at the Festival of Faith & Writing. Not only that, but …
Write Along with Me 