Proverbs 18:26 Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family. Readers of Caring Lessons know I was desperate to find a friend when I was in my early thirties, someone like me, a nurse and mom who wanted to go back to school. That friend turned out to be …
Tag: humor
Riding the Rails – Amtrak’s Empire Builder
Imagine being old and set in your ways and having to live out of a backpack. To me, backpacks are for books, but on our recent rail trip cross the US and Canada, we had no access to our suitcases while in transit on the trains. Imagine, then, living out of a backpack from the …
Riding the Rails — Bonuses Galore
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 …
Aging in Chicago: An Unexpected Anniversary
The other day I discovered I was having an anniversary this month, or maybe I should call it a birthday. I’m not sure, the only thing I’m sure of is that I’ve not celebrated this date ever, and it’s been nineteen years. Nineteen fairly good years. Oh, a few downs, but many more ups. I’ve …
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Metaphor as Mystery
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, …
Grab…Sermons, this Time
Grab. Grab. And grab some more. Last time I talked about the “grab” of first sentences in short stories. Today, it’s about the “grab” in first sentences of sermons. I’m saving a collection of both for when I get to “the home” someday. Following my mother’s example, I want a collection of reading material ready. …
Grab. Grab. Grab. How grabby are your first sentences?
“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 …
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Driving Adult Daughters Bats on Chicago’s Frigid Days
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 …
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Why Don’t You Just Run Away?
That line was the funniest one I heard last week. The context? Imagine retirees, and the gal saying this to her husband. I’m sure you can conjure up many scenes that you want to say, perhaps yell, that line. Before I retired in 2000 I was aware of potential problems with Marv and me being …
Chronic Itch Sufferers: Advice Welcome!
“Don’t tell me you are still itching,” a friend said yesterday. “That is just terrible! What’s been happening?” I’d not seen her in a month, and while she was off gallivanting across the world, I was continuing my journey from one doctor to another. As a retired nurse, I ask myself, every minute, What if …
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