I’m Walking…Yes Indeed

April 4th, 2018
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Walking Child

 

Whenever I find my mind spinning around, thinking about too many things at once, my go-to solution is to get outside and start walking.

Walking helps me clear my mind of cobwebs and clogged up thoughts.

Walking is good for getting rid of swirling, twirling thoughts that seem to endlessly fly around with no direction in sight.

Walking also gives me a sense of accomplishing something…if only to exercise my needy body!

As I walked in the chilly outdoors yesterday (it is April right?), I let my mind wander while taking in the much needed change of scenery, trying … Read More

September 11, 2017

September 11th, 2017
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National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York City “The tears of the world are a constant quantity. For each one who begins to weep somewhere else another stops. The same is true of the laugh.” ~ Samuel Beckett, Waiting For Godot All of us carry images in our minds that will stay with us for the rest of our lives. I think it is safe to say that some of the images we will never forget include the events of September 11, 2001. While this horrific event and the thousands of lives lost during that tragic day happened… Read More

Healing Is Not Linear

August 30th, 2017
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One of the most excellent things about reading is when you discover a fictional character in a book who expresses something you have been feeling but haven’t been able to describe. This happened to me the other night while I was reading the Pulitzer Prize winning book, Olive Kitteridge by the beautiful writer and author Elizabeth Strout. In the book, I am introduced to Angie O’Meara, a middle-aged woman who plays piano in a cocktail lounge in Maine.  She has had a few drinks while playing Christmas carols during her shift and out of the corner of her eye she… Read More

Hillbilly Elegy — A Resilient Memoir

April 21st, 2017
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Friends and colleagues told me Hillbilly Elegy was the book to read if I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of white working class voter participation in the 2016 Presidential election. Yes Hillbilly Elegy, a New York Times best selling memoir, does deliver compelling first person thoughts and experiences about how it feels to be white and poor and growing up in rust-belt Ohio but more importantly, it gave me unexpected insights into the ability of a young child to find the inner strength to keep going while living in trauma. If read from that point of view, Hillbilly Elegy… Read More

Grief Sucks

April 8th, 2017
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My Dad At A Gonzaga Rally  Dear Faithful Friends: Excuse my French, but as the title of this post suggests, grief does suck. I haven’t been on social media very much lately though it’s not for lack of trying.  Since my Dad’s death in February, I can’t tell you how many times I have tried to sit down and write something but all the words get balled up. I know I am stating the obvious but it needs to be said.  When you call something what it is, you bring it out into the open.  Maybe it just sits in… Read More

Daddy Grief

March 13th, 2017
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My Dad and I Goofing Around I miss my Dad.  A lot. I miss hearing his voice, talking to him and hanging out with him. I miss helping him with his eye drops, reading the newspaper to him and bringing him his favorite chicken salad sandwiches from Panera. I miss the way he talked like Donald Duck and his funny way of telling a story. His funeral was on March 2 and I am trying hard to figure out how to deal with his absence, the actual physical loss of him. I went to my parents house yesterday and it… Read More

Me As Buddy The Elf

December 20th, 2016
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Photo Courtesy of Country Living This holiday season I feel a bit like Buddy from the popular Christmas movie, Elf. Remember the scene where Buddy the elf, who is magically played by Will Ferrell, travels from the North Pole to New York City to find his father and explains to his new family that elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corn and syrup? That would be me this holiday season.  Except for the candy corn, which I have never liked because I think it tastes like some kind of plastic or wax.… Read More

Give Yourself A Break

December 11th, 2016
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Giving is fun. Whether it’s something you meticulously made with your own hands or something you spent a long time searching for, giving to others is a wonderful feeling. I sometimes feel that giving a present to someone is more exciting than receiving. Watching the other person’s reaction while they are opening your gift is part of the fun and contributes to that good feeling of giving and letting them know they are special. During this holiday season, which can easily turn frantic as we get closer to the time of celebration, I think it is also important to give… Read More

Let’s Rise Up

November 12th, 2016
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  My late husband, Tom O’Toole, as a young boy   Good Morning Friends: So how was your week? I’m not trying to be flip.  I am genuinely concerned. We live in a topsy turvy world and you would have to be stationed in some unbelievably remote part of the globe not to be aware of the election results in this week’s U.S. presidential contest.  Seriously, it has been quite a freaking week and everyone I know (including myself) is still absorbing what happened. On top of the surprising election results, my family received some sad personal news that I … Read More