Holidays , Life Lessons , Observations
Every country I have ever lived in or even visited celebrates holidays. Everyone loves holidays; workers have the day off and are usually paid for not working, students do not have to go to class, retailers sell more seasonal goods, and it’s an excuse to get together with friends and family. Sometimes I wonder if […]
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Our six-year-old grandson, Dylan, occasionally calls me on his Aunt Meg’s cell phone as they are walking back to her house from his kindergarten. Those four-block walks can take up to 40 minutes, depending on how many trolls, dragons, and princesses they meet and converse with along the way. I know, because I walked with […]
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Once again I have returned from a weekend in California. This time it was grandson Dylan’s birthday, his sixth. In March, it was his little sister, Molly’s, fourth birthday that drew me to Los Angeles. On this flight, there was no delay caused by spilled peppercorn in the airplane. Everything went smoothly. Sort of. While […]
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I have noticed recently that everything has become very specialized, and everyone is now a specialist. No one seems to be a generalist anymore with broad knowledge and breadth of capabilities. I miss generalists. General Practitioners Replaced by Specialists Recently my general practitioner doctor retired. As we age, our long-term service providers also grow old […]
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Saint Francis is, I am sad to say, a bit selfish. Not my favorite St. Francis of Assisi, who was known for his love of animals. No, I’m referring to his namesake, my little stray cat who comes to dine on our porch every night. As some of you might recall, I named her Saint […]
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He wore a green flannel shirt even though it was a warm day. He appeared disheveled and ill-kempt but oddly seemed to move with confidence and conviction. He carried an overstuffed backpack that was not fully-zipped and appeared haphazard and disorganized with miscellaneous clothing items protruding. I assumed he was a homeless person but wondered […]
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Thirty years later, and it had not changed. As I looked down the long corridor of the enclosed shopping mall in Colorado, there it was; just like I remembered it. Predominately orange and white store signage complemented by a blue and white picture of an upside-down ice cream cup. Everyone Starts Somewhere Three decades earlier, […]
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Once upon a time, I harbored dreams of seeing my name in lights on Broadway. I would play Laura in The Glass Menagerie, Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun and Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind. Oh alright, so Gone With The Wind was never a Broadway show – these are my dreams, […]
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February in Iowa isn’t exactly a time when we are overrun with tourists. That said, the month does have its perks, at least for some of us. The second of February is Groundhog Day. More importantly, it’s the day Bing and I chose to be married. June brides are vastly overrated, and February brides are […]
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For those of you who have asked how my stray kitty, Saint Francis, is faring, I’m happy to give you an update. For those of you who didn’t ask, I’ll give you an update anyway. Because I’m sure you meant to ask but it just slipped your minds. Saint Francis is faring very well. She […]
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