I stand here by a wall of metal file cabinets—three in a row, four drawers each—a nursing career of memories nestled in the southwest corner of my study. My life’s work written on hundreds, maybe thousands, of pages hanging neatly in file folders. After twenty-two years in our three-bedroom house in suburban Chicago, I am …
Continue reading S is for Saying Farewell to My Nursing Files
Oh no. That was bad. After being happily retired from nursing for nearly seventeen years, I had a severe attack of nostalgia last week. We were on our way home from AZ to SD and stopped at a niece’s along the way. An RN, she offered me a tour of her hospital where she’s worked …
“Listen actively with respect,” said the speaker, adding “Be succinct and to the point.” Last week, I attended this orientation session to the OLLI program at Northwestern University in Chicago. OLLI stands for Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Across the country, 120 such programs exist, all associated with colleges. Having taught group dynamics and observed many …
Continue reading Aging in Chicago: A New Adventure for Fall 2014
I remember: You blaming me for your hips being uneven, ha ha, because you had to carry me around when we lived in New Jersey when Dad was a Chaplain in the Army from 1943-1946. You telling me that, after the war, we shared a bed in West Sayville and, thanks to me, another ha …
I’d never heard of memoir as triologue before I attended the Festival of Faith & Writing at Calvin College a few weeks ago. In a session led by three memoirists, Luci Shaw, noted poet, said she liked to think of memoir as a triologue between the writer, God, and the reader. Most of the session …
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 …
was my powerful takeaway last week from attending the three-day Faith & Writing Festival at Calvin College. Imagine attending sixteen one-hour sessions, plus two chapels, with speakers whose intentions were to explore the intersection of faith and writing. Consider it an immersion camp on a rolling green campus where newbies quickly learn to shed dress …
Today's author blog tour stop for Caring Lessons is with Jerri Ann Reason, a dynamic mom who brings all sorts of pertinent information to her readers on her "mom-e-centric" blog. She asked that I write a guest post about when I was a mom of young kids.The title is "Keeping Your ME While Being a …
Today, Caring Lessons is reviewed by Mason Canyon on her blog, Thoughts in Progress. Read her review here. My guest post for this blogger is about the importance of belonging to a writing group. It is most fitting for me to share with you now that one member of our group, Pepper Furey, passed away …
Continue reading Caring Lessons / WOW Blog Tour – Stop #2 / Tribute to Pepper Furey
Write Along with Me 