Some of my Poetry Friday cohort members set challenges for one another at the beginning of each month. This month, April, the task of challenge setting fell to someone whose writing I’ve enjoyed for several years now. As I read her fellow participants’ posts, as well as hers, I was inspired by them to write…
One thing I miss about not having my boys home anymore is the conversations we would have after dinner. This is true of my middle son, especially. He is a big picture thinker and a conceptual learner. Our current educational systems, in the U.S., at least where we live in the mid-west, do not cater…
While going to the post office this morning, I witnessed something I wish I hadn’t. There is a childcare and pre-school across the street from our post office. It was 11:15 a.m. when I came up the street and saw the school bus stop in front of the preschool. Since it is not very nice…
I am currently reading The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris. The book has been scary and enjoyable all at the same time. Look for a review in a future post. The main character in the book, the Tattooist or “Tatowierer” as he is referred to by the SS in the novel carries a bag…
Over the last month, I’ve written several times about a health crisis our family had with my mom. It is now four weeks after sepsis landed her in an ICU bed for a week. This was followed by a step-down inpatient unit for a few days, until a rehab bed was secured in a transitional…
Last night was the first time I slept in my own bed in 18 days. No, I was not on a trip. I was caring for my parents in another state. Our care involved three, one-way plane rides, three 888 mile trips on the I-90, and staying at my parents and my sister in law’s…
Finding time to write in the last two weeks has been difficult. And, when time is found, the words just do not seem to come. This is unusual for me and it is not writer’s block. It is because I have been helping to handle a family crisis. My mom has been in the hospital…
Fortunate Genes I consider my family both unusual and fortunate in that we are all capable of self-teaching. From building furniture to growing a fruit orchard, or building a house, From creating jewelry, games, and wallets on a CNC machine, From learning water color painting in grad school, to composing music, From origami to colored…
For most, Labor Day means a day off of work and the unofficial end of summer. For me, it is a reminder of two of my life’s blessings (there are four, actually). Twenty-seven years ago on Labor Day, I labored, truly. I woke up early, feeling the twinges of pain one’s body sends when it…
Public schools Public health Public library Public defender Public market Public bathroom What does the word “public” mean to you? In nursing school, eons ago, the senior year clinical was called “Community Health.” This clinical, the culmination of three prior years of classes in liberal arts, hard and soft sciences including biology, chemistry, physiology, sociology,…