“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 …
Picture this. One day you're walking Chicago's pedway and the long wall across from Macy's on State is as boring as ever. Bland. No color. And a bit dirty.Then magic happens.Last week, I joined commuters racing on the pedway from trains to jobs and reveled in that long wall now bursting with color, excitement, and …
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
Remember the days of going to the mailbox and finding a handwritten letter addressed to you? You’d stop whatever you were doing, find the letter opener, settle into your favorite chair, slit open the envelope, and begin to read. Those were the days, my friends, before emails. So imagine my excitement last October when I …
This is often the way God loves us: with gifts we thought we didn't need, which transform us into people we don't necessarily want to be. We assume religion is about giving a little of our power. Then this stranger comes to us, blesses us with a gift, and calls us to see ourselves as …
Fog blanketed our bus last week as we rode to see The Merry Wives of Windsor at Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier. Where thousands throng in summer, ice chunks float in winter. Top -- looking south from the north side of the pier; middle -- looking west toward the city; bottom -- looking south from …
Continue reading Views from Navy Pier, Chicago – December 2013
Maybe it’s because I lived in a glass house when I was growing up—a parsonage where the parishioners could always watch the behavior of the preacher’s kids—that I have developed a love for being irreverently reverent. I love to act out a bit. It’s hard to be perfect all of one’s life, so I happily …
Continue reading Thoughts on True vs. False Selves on a Snowy Day in Chicago
For that nurse or nursing student in your life, consider giving them Caring Lessons: A Nursing Professor's Journey of Faith and Self. My career memoir tells my story from nurse's aide to professor emerita and from diploma to PhD. Caring Lessons will inspire the reader that achieving career dreams are possible! I used to tell my …
Continue reading Christmas Present for a Nurse or Nursing Student – 2013
Write Along with Me 