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

Resisting The Reaction

January 7th, 2015
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“Mom. You don’t have to react to everything.” These pearls of incredible wisdom came out of the mouth of my son when he was very young, maybe ten or eleven years old.  We were in the car driving to some sports activity and I was trying to squeeze in an errand or two before practice started.  The tight schedule led me to comment (read rant) about the lack of driving skills of those sharing the road with me and a few other hot buttons issues that we were talking about while I was driving. “Mom.  You don’t have to react… Read More

A New Year Unwritten

January 2nd, 2015
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A brand new fresh and clean calendar is amazing, yes? 2015 is here and as I flip through my new calendar, I’m excited to see a new year of endless possibilities, a year of new opportunities just waiting for me and you; days where we can make the first moves, put our plans into motion and make our dreams become reality. I don’t make resolutions for the New Year because I find that taking each day as it comes and trying to do my best works for me.  But that’s just me.  Maybe resolutions help keep you on track so… Read More

1 Positive Takeaway From 2014

December 31st, 2014
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Today is unbelievably my last post for 2014 and I find myself reviewing the year and wondering, “Did I do something different this year that personally broke new ground?  Something that was healthy and healing? ” Yes I did! This year I made a commitment to learn how to find quiet time time and meditate. It was awkward at first and really very hard for me to settle myself, sit still and keep all my stray thoughts at bay while trying to focus on the absence of thought.  But I kept at it and I am making progress.  And that’s… Read More

A Sick Day

December 30th, 2014
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If you live in my area of the world sometimes known as the #DMV (District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia), I sincerely hope you have not caught any of the strains of yucky flu quickly making themselves felt as they spread their awful symptoms through young and old. I had a flu shot this year but as my doctor told me yesterday this year’s flu shot unfortunately did not “cover” or protect me from the different strains of flu now floating around in search of perfectly healthy people it can attack and inhabit.  The first symptoms hit me like a wall… Read More

Fa-La-La-La Life

December 24th, 2014
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Today is Christmas Eve and I am full of hope but also wrestling with conflicting thoughts and emotions. I am amazed that Christmas is almost here and yet as I try to finish the last bit of my Christmas wrapping and cooking, in my head plays a spontaneous feature film of Christmas memories jumping around in no particular order: from tender scenes with my brothers and sisters when we were children listening to Johnny Mathis sing Christmas songs through a wonderful Christmas morning with my son from last year.  Then it’s back many, many years to the precious time when… Read More

Kick It Up For Christmas

December 22nd, 2014
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Hey there Resilient Readers: It’s the Monday of Christmas week and today I am going in an entirely different direction; one that is fun and healing and in tune with the holiday spirit.  It’s a post that I hope makes you smile and perhaps reminisce about your own unfulfilled but fond dreams. I have a saying that life is about finding your music and dancing to it.  Dancing has always been something that comes natural to me and something that I love to do.  In one of my former lives, I took dancing lessons for years as a child and… Read More

Helping Teenagers With Grief

December 19th, 2014
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We are deep into the season of celebrating the holidays and messages of merriness are everywhere. Photo Courtesy of Huffington Post But what happens to teenagers when they are trying to cope with school and social pressures and then the parent of one of their friends dies? Or someone in their family dies? Adults are busy tending to shopping, decorating, cooking and organizing so it could be fairly easy to miss that the teenagers in your life might be having some difficulties at this time of year.  Are they spending a little bit more time by themselves or are they… Read More