A Birthday Reveal

January 9th, 2015
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I’ve had 10 birthdays since my husband died and yesterday was the first birthday I celebrated when I didn’t think of him once during the day.

I am not telling you this to sound sad or to express joy.  No way.

I write of this today to say it’s confusing.  I never thought it would happen.  I’m not sure what it means, if it means anything.  I didn’t even realize it happened until the end of the day when I was getting ready to go to sleep.

birthdaygreeting

I still miss him dearly but I guess I am also reporting in … Read More

Baby Tenacity

October 6th, 2014
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One of my sisters became a grandmother this year and I now look forward to receiving short videos from her of the precious time she spends with her granddaughter.  I never get tired of watching this little bundle of energy! We haven’t had a baby in our family for many years since the youngest of the grandchildren are now in high school (A whole other world!).  Watching my sister’s granddaughter reminds me of something that I had forgotten: how quickly children change and the beauty of persistence.  Crawling and pulling herself up to a table, focusing on getting her balance… Read More

A Kitchen Dream Come True

September 19th, 2014
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You have to speak Your dream out loud.                ~ Kelly Corrigan Today is good news about holding on to your dreams and never giving up on them.  At the beginning of this year, I wrote about a dream of mine: to upgrade my kitchen (http://crylaughheal.com/dream-a-little-dream/). And guess what?  It is finally happening!! True to Kelly Corrigan’s inspirational saying above, I kept talking about it, researching it, saving for it and finally reached the point of giving the project a green light.  It’s been a bit scary watching the kitchen be totally demolished (I haven’t had a working oven, refrigerator or… Read More

Plenty of Positive

August 25th, 2014
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Lots of children and parents in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia are waking up earlier than usual this morning and wondering what happened to the easy breezy days of summer.  They are looking at the calendar and staring at today’s date and thinking, “How did this happen?  How could today be the first day of school?” A new school year is time to look forward with a sense of hope.  It’s a chance to do things a little different and a little better.  First days of anything offer the opportunity for a fresh start.  Of course, there may also be… Read More

The Happiness Journey

July 11th, 2014
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Hey there Resilient Readers! A friend sent me the following quote yesterday and I liked it so much I wanted to share it with you right away. I hope this thought carries you through today and many days to come:   “Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.”  Denis Waitley Boxes of Freshly Picked RosesBy Sheila Hayes  … Read More

SNL — Wrapping With Justin Timberlake & Jimmy Fallon

December 30th, 2013
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A good laugh is worth a million bucks. Justin Timberlake & Jimmy Fallon on Saturday Night Live There are a few of my friends and family members who can make me laugh so hard that I can’t get my breath and I love that they have this special talent.  They are usually imitating someone or just have the ability to see life in a quirky way and I always can use a dose of their sense of humor. Fortunately, there are also a few shows on television that also make me laugh.  One of them is “Saturday Night Live.”  When… Read More

Family Dynamics

December 27th, 2013
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I’m sure I’m stating the obvious when I say that every family has its own dynamic and its own way of relating to each other and I think that this special form of communication developed within the family over the years is revealed in its barest form on a holiday. Let me tell you about mine.  Please?  Okay.  At least a little bit. Take 15 adults, 8 grandchildren in their teens and twenties, 6 children under the age of six and one newborn baby and put them all together in close quarters for a number of hours and what do… Read More

You Can’t Sit Back & Wait

December 16th, 2013
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Did you ever complain about something you thought was going to be a great experience but then it turned out to be terribly disappointing? If you happened to complain to my mother about such a thing, then she would probably tell you that you have no one to blame but yourself because everyone knows that you have to emotionally invest to get a joyous return.  Or put another way, you get out of it what you put into it. Which is also another way of saying that you can’t sit on your butt and wait for stuff to come to… Read More

A Silly Ode to October

October 16th, 2013
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I know the calendar says it’s the month of October but there have been days when it has felt as though it were July. When it feels like summer I am definitely one happy camper!!  It’s all I can do to stop myself from driving to the beach!!  But then there are the shorter days when it now gets dark earlier and earlier and that is difficult for me to deal with.  It’s really a downer to come out of work at the end of the day and it’s dark already.  Autumn may not be one of my favorite times… Read More