Father’s Day Without Dad

June 18th, 2017
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daddy drawing

 

Sometimes the most profound moments can happen in the middle of doing something ordinary.

My Brother, Tom, and I were recently grocery shopping for our Mom.  At 86, our Mom has paid her dues and shouldn’t have to put even her little toe inside a grocery store anymore.  Sometimes she does like to get out and do her own errands and browse around the grocery store but on this particular day she was tired and needed some essentials so my brother and I decided to go for her.

Let me pause here to quickly tell you a little … 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 Daughter Ballet

February 17th, 2017
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      I took ballet lessons for almost ten years and I would have loved to have taken at least one class with my Dad. I know he would have been up for it — even if it meant wearing a pink tutu.  I know it would have been pure fun! I laugh to myself just thinking about what it would have been like if we had had the chance to dance together that way.  At 89 years old, my Dad still has a strong resilient spirit even though he recently began receiving hospice care. I began to imagine … Read More

A Friend’s Good Bye Letter

May 28th, 2013
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Last week a childhood friend of my father’s died.  They had known each other since they were in grade school and met each other while playing recess games on the black top when they were about seven or eight years old.  They both went on to attend the same high school, playing basketball, and later both went into the insurance business working for different companies.   Over the years, they stayed in touch with each other as best they could.  They both worked very hard while trying to raise large Irish Catholic families.  My father and mother had six children… Read More

A Heavenly Summer Wind

April 11th, 2013
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Happy Birthday Love today to a Special Person in Heaven. The Birthday Boy was an abrupt-on-the-outside, marshmellow-on-the-inside kind of a guy who was my husband and my friend for 17 years plus.  He was an old school kind of Dad to five talented and fantastic children and took a HUGE amount of pride in his work as an award-winning reporter/writer. He never forgot his New Jersey roots, having been born and raised in Red Bank, and was a die hard Giants and Yankees fan.  He loved everything about New Jersey: the infamous jokes about exits, the rumble tumble way of… Read More

ER Awakening

July 12th, 2012
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I feel very lucky to have good health and after spending four hours in an emergency room Tuesday evening, I have renewed my commitment to doing all I can to preserve it. My Dad had an urgent eye incident and he needed immediate medical attention so we drove to one of the local hospitals here in Washington, DC and waited for a diagnosis.  You can debate the pros and cons of Obama’s health care bill until the cows come home but it all falls away when you are in an emergency room. Or maybe it’s that the harsh reality of… Read More

Happy Birthday Daddy!

March 28th, 2012
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Today is my Dad’s 85th birthday and I wish him the happiest of birthdays!!  He is the best Dad in the whole world!! I love him very much and respect what he has done in his life.  He adores the beach and fishing and hanging out near the water.  Today he is spending the day down on Chesapeake Bay with my brothers and I know they will have a blast because they’ll eat and do everything guys like to do. He is quite a wonderful character (you never know what the mail will bring) and a great Dad who once… Read More