Posts Tagged: caring

Paycheck to Paycheck

January 5th, 2019
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expenses

I know several people who work for the federal government.

Putting aside the political debate about why the government is currently shutdown, this is a time of anxiety for many of these people and their families.

These people work hard and approach their jobs in a professional manner and now find themselves in an awful place.

Some of them who are considered to be “essential” must show up for work knowing that they will not get paid.  Others are furloughed and have no idea when they will go back to work or get paid.

800,000 federal workers and their families … Read More

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

March 17th, 2014
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If it’s March, it must be that time of year again when everything green is up for grabs and my family is never embarrassed to wear as much of it as possible. Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all and I’m sure you’re planning to do it up proud! My large and boisterous family gathered yesterday before the snow hit the Washington, DC area to celebrate our Irish ancestry and all the stops were pulled out for a grand time. So in the tradition of my Celtic tribe, it was an afternoon of irreverent jokes and imitations, lots of food and… Read More

Kickstarting Change

January 6th, 2014
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Hey there!  I hope you had a great and productive weekend or perhaps it was a weekend chock full of fun! Mine was full, but it was full of running interference for family members and in particular trying to understand the emotional needs of one family member.  I keep reminding myself that life and it’s unpleasant conflicts are all about love, love, love! In the midst of this whirlwind weekend of emotions, I found the following quote which I felt was insightful and particularly timely: “And that is how change happens. One gesture.  One person. One moment at a time.”                        … Read More

I’m In Today

December 4th, 2013
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A friend from a support group sent me a wonderful short poem (which I am sharing below) reminding me about the priority of today. On one level, I suppose you could say it’s about managing your time but on another level, I think it’s about figuring out what’s important to you and staying focused on the things you want to pursue or accomplish and the people in your life that you really want to hang out with. That can be a tall order when you have lots of responsibilities from daily life vying for your attention but I find that… Read More

Can You Hug Too Much?

September 20th, 2013
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Hugs……They’re so healing!We hug when we see someone we really like and haven’t seen in a while; we hug when it’s time to say good-bye. We hug to show we care; we hug to let the other person know we are on their team. We hug to send a special message to another person that they are not alone.  They have a friend; someone who cares what happens to them. We hug to comfort.  We hug to love. We hug because we are human and part of a larger community. We are here to hug.  Each other.  All the time.… Read More

Washington DC Navy Yard Shootings

September 17th, 2013
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There was something about the first email news alert that came into my work computer yesterday morning at 9:01 a.m. “Reports of an active shooter at Navy Yard area.  Avoid that area.” I don’t know if it was the time of day, the location of the shooter or the fact that it was a Monday that made me stare at the email and think, “This is bad.”  Unsure of what parts of the city my colleagues planned to go for meetings or appointments, I immediately forwarded the Navy Yard email to everyone in my office. The “active shooter” the email… Read More

The Kindness of Nurses

July 23rd, 2013
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Have you ever been in an emergency room at 2 am? Unfortunately, my son and I found ourselves there Sunday night because we needed to take my Dad to the hospital for medical attention to various issues that by themselves were not a big deal, but taken collectively, for a man in his 80’s, they added up to a serious situation. The doctors agreed about the seriousness of my Dad’s symptoms but didn’t decide to check him in until after midnight and then he was finally assigned a room around 2 am.  By the time we got home, it was… Read More

Unwanted Care

June 5th, 2013
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How do you try to take care of someone when they don’t want you to? I’m sure you must know a person you care about and perhaps even love who doesn’t want you to help them even though it is obvious that help is very much needed. You understand the frustration right? It’s the frustation of no matter how hard you try to offer various kinds of support, you never are able to do the right thing, the thing that will make them happy. This is what I know I can do: I call on the telephone, I listen, I… Read More

A New Day; A New Way

February 19th, 2013
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They say that sharing is caring and I care so much about my readers that when I read the below post yesterday from the Bereaved Partners Support Group (@BereavedPartner on Twitter), I couldn’t wait to share it with you. So many things in this article resonated with me: especially the idea of stepping into your fears and working through them to find something new in your changed life. Healing and recovery happen.  It may not feel as though this natural process is happening to you but it is.  You must believe in a new way of life and even a… Read More