Wayne Dyer said, “What other people think of me is actually none of my business.” My mother would NEVER EVER have understood this statement. EVERY PERSON’S opinion about us mattered, and all opinions mattered more than our own. I grew up with, What did they say? What did they say about your new coat? What did they say about your project, hair, sweater, shoes, mom, dad and on and on until I wanted to fall to the floor and beg for mercy. At one point, when I was perhaps sixteen

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” - Desmond Tutu 2020. The unimaginable happened and the world shut down. As we tried to take it all in, scrambled to feed our families and homeschool our children, the news kept coming at us. Then in May, we, as a nation, had to face our country’s deep-seated racism in the ugliest way imaginable as we witnessed the murder of George Floyd. Families have suffered through job loss, sickness and death dur

I want to write something amazing, healing and thoughtful. I want my words to make you feel better about everything. I want to use magical phrases that will make your mind rest, stop your thoughts from spinning and dispel your fear and anxious feelings of uncertainty. But I don’t know which words I could use to accomplish that. We are at an anxiety level that many of us have never felt before. Our brains are on high alert all of the time. What the hell do we do with all the f

Once upon a time, in a kingdom not far from here, there lived an amazing woman. She had a fulfilling career, a supportive partner, and a loving family. Her windows sparkled with cleanliness in the sunlight and her outfits were always impeccable. She was friendly with everyone she met and was always patient with her children. It was rumored throughout the kingdom that she exercised every single day, and…this always amazed the listeners….she only ate healthy foods! She had time

July I am flinging myself into my house. Not around the house. INTO the house. I am decluttering with an energy that is focused and frantic at the same time. Emotional turmoil has done me in. I did not have my defenses up. These last two years have taken their toll and I know I’m not the only one that feels this way. I am weary. I hate everyone. Even the people I love and respect out there. I am cranky. I load up stuff for the thrift store, filling my car, over and over. I

Sometimes life just ups and punches you right in the gut. And then as your body automatically jerks forward, with an oomph that lets much-needed air out of your lungs and you struggle to get a breath, life comes down hard on the back of your head and this time, you fall forward all the way to the ground. You take more than a few seconds to raise your shoulders, wincing as you push down on your scraped palms, and as you painfully raise your head, life slaps you across the face

I still miss my Dad. Every time there is a new Western, I miss him. He would have liked the remake of True Grit. I would love to watch my favorites with him, but of course, I can’t. It’s stuff like that that kind of sneaks up on me and hurts my heart. I think of him often and I am so grateful that he was my Dad. I concentrate on that. The fact that he was in my life and I got to have him as my Dad. This is a reposting of what I originally wrote five and a half years ago when

Sam: “Mr. Frodo, wake up... Don't leave me here alone. Don't go where I can't follow... “ Last night I saw this quote posted on my daughter’s wall, along with other favorite quotes of hers. But suddenly, this one, which I have seen many times before, hit me so hard, that I felt it squeeze my heart and not let go. This is what my Mom feels about losing my Dad. They were married 62 years, and though my Dad was lost to her for years before his death, they were only apart for the

The most important day of my life was the day I broke my neck. The world changed. Every decision I made after that day was different than it would have been, had it not happened. You grow up hearing, “Don’t do that—you’ll break your neck!” You hear about people diving into pools, and the horror of being a quadriplegic. And here I was. I had broken my neck. I was alive and I wasn’t paralyzed. How had I gotten to this point in my life? How had I gotten to this emergency room, w