5 Great Places To Laugh

May 30th, 2017
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children laugh

There are a handful of people in my life who can make me laugh so hard that I CAN NOT get my breath and one of them is my brother, Scotty.

He has an unbelievable sense of humor.  I’m not telling tales out of school when I say that hands down he does the best imitation of our mother and the fact that he usually does it in front of her makes it even funnier.  Not to worry.  Our Mom thinks he is funny too and she always laughs at his skits, especially the ones featuring her! My brother can … Read More

Peace Out

September 29th, 2016
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We live in crazy times my friends, with election talk this week seeming to bombard us everywhere we go. Since I live in Washington, DC, where politics and government are considered our main industries, I usually don’t bring up the election as a topic of conversation unless someone else asks me first.  People are pretty polarized and the election is not the kind of thing that you toss out casually as you are waiting in line at the grocery story or talking to a bank teller or an Uber driver.   Chatting with someone you don’t know very well about either… Read More

Finding Your Community

September 23rd, 2016
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    You’re in the mood to go out.  Maybe go see a movie.  Maybe get a drink. But as a suddenly single, widowed or recently divorced person you might find that your usual go-to friends are busy and you aren’t enthusiastic about going out by yourself. It’s not that you can’t do it because you’ve done it before.  You’ve done it because you hate to think that you won’t do something just because you don’t have anyone to do it with. You went out by yourself to prove that you could and it was okay but not great.  It … Read More

Caregiving And Magical Thinking

April 1st, 2016
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When I typed “caregiving” into the Google search bar the following phrases immediately came up: Caregiving is difficult Caregiving is ruining my marriage Caregiving is a thankless job Caregiving is killing me Wow!.  More and more families are faced with issues of caregiving and are feeling the physical and emotional drain of it no matter how much you care about and love the person you are trying to help. Caregiving can be rewarding in surprising ways but it also can be challenging in ways you never imagined. I come from a large family and I really can’t remember a time… Read More

Sweating For The Wedding

March 24th, 2016
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Jelly beans.  Cookies.  Cakes.  They are all calling out. Especially the jelly beans.  They are like crack for me.  There is a guy in my office who gave up chocolate for Lent and now he has a bowl of jelly beans on his desk which he continues to constantly refresh when the contents get low.  Ugh!  To me, that is just replacing one kind of sugar for another but oh well; each to his own. Anyway, I can’t tell you the amount of self control it takes for me to deny myself the jelly beans as I walk past his… Read More

Everyone’s A Paddy Today!

March 17th, 2016
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    When my son was in kindergarten, his wonderful teacher had a great way for the children to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. She took all of the last names of the boys and girls in his class and wrote them on shamrocks made of green construction paper and then as an added surprise, she added either “Mc” or “O'” in front of the names to make everyone feel they were Irish.  Just to give you an idea, Smith would become McSmith or O’Smith.  Then she taped the shamrocks to the front of the kindergarten entrance for the whole school… Read More

Mental Health: A Sunny Escape

February 15th, 2016
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  Dear Winter: Snow again?? Really?? Even though you are not my favorite season, I know there is no way around you and when the calendar signals that it’s your turn, I need to get ready for the temperature changes and the shorter days.  I dragged out all of my winter geared and prepared myself to get in the habit of layering my clothes.  I reminded myself that the one positive thing about your arrival is the celebration of Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year’s Eve so you do bring some reasons to party. But still you’ve been hanging around… Read More

Oh Fallen Christmas Tree

December 21st, 2015
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I was working on the computer this past weekend when I heard a sudden “thud” upstairs in the living room. As I ran up the steps to see what had happened, I had a sick feeling in my stomach that I knew what had fallen to make that sound. When I came around the corner and reached the living room, I found I was unfortunately right about the origin of that dull thud on the wooden floor. My beautiful Christmas tree had fallen.  With all of its lights and ornaments on it. And it was laying partially across the living… Read More

Channeling Iggy Azalea

July 3rd, 2015
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When I feel my internal stress-o-meter starting to rise, then I know it’s time to find something that will make me laugh. Big time. Something that will make me forget that life can sometimes feel like a pressure cooker. Laughing immediately releases tension for me and it also allows me to put what is causing my stress into perspective.  Which means that I am trying to let myself know that the stress causer is not important and shouldn’t be using my valuable energy. Translation: it’s no big whoop so I need to move on and find something funny that will… Read More