Despite It All, I’m So Grateful

As a long time news junkie, it’s getting harder and harder to read a newspaper or tune into the news. To witness such enormous suffering in the Israeli-Hamas/Russia-Ukraine conflicts as well as the assaults on women’s rights and our totally dysfunctional Congress is so awful that I find myself wanting to crawl back into bed…

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The Holidays: When Joy and Loss Co-Mingle

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving visit with my younger son and his family. They flew in from Denver, and my son’s first child from a previous relationship, now a college sophomore who lives across the river in Indiana, came over as well. A special joy was seeing that no matter how many months the younger…

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That Subject No One Wants to Talk About

“It’s not the idea of death that bothers me; it’s the hours.” – Woody Allen I’m not a big fan of Woody Allen, but the guy has a point. It’s hard to think about the permanence of our own mortality or worse, the death of our loved ones. While it’s true that no one gets…

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The Thankful Season

When our children were growing up, we used to pass a candle around the table at our Sunday evening suppers and take turns saying what we were thankful for. Our younger son announced one night, “Let me start with my unthankfuls.” This became part of our family lore and whenever one of us had a…

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Never Too Late

The genetic predisposition toward alcoholism and depression has threaded its way through generations of my family tree. While I have struggled with depression throughout my life, I was lucky to escape the disease of alcoholism. One of my sisters was not so lucky. But that’s not the end of the story—it’s only the beginning. This…

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End-of-Summer Musings

I admit it. I’m having grandchild withdrawal! I spent a wonderful two weeks hosting our Colorado family and three grandkids and then was off for two and a half weeks visiting our NYC grandkids, including our latest precious addition. Edie Lou arrived on Sunday, July 22, weighing nearly nine pounds! She joins big brother Milo.…

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Joy and Sadness

 Sunday, we had a guest speaker at church, Karina Barillas. Barillas is the Executive Director of La Casita Center, a Louisville-based non-profit dedicated to supporting and empowering the city’s Latino community, including those who are undocumented immigrants. Barillas emigrated from Guatemala after being a victim of incest and domestic violence. She spoke eloquently of the…

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Holiday Letters Make Terrible Fiction

Our friends and family are far flung, so every year, I make a special effort to do a holiday newsletter and send pictures of our grandkids. This year, we’ve had wonderful things in our family to celebrate—a new grandbaby on the way, one of our sons being named head basketball coach at the high school…

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