Living 35 miles outside of Philadelphia, my hometown is not a booming metropolis. However, when I go to Lancaster or the mountains (which is generic for remote areas west of us, mostly wooded with big hills and lakes, a generic term used here like the beach being called “the shore”),…

My husband was going to take me to a doctor’s appointment and texted me to let me know he’d be home from work at 2:00 p.m. to pick me up. My appointment was at 1:00. I let him know and he came and got me at the correct time. In…

I no longer wonder about the amount of major challenges someone must go through while here on earth. What I have been asking myself, however, given the events of the last month, is how much kindness can one person receive in the course of her life? My closest friends are…

As we visit my mom-in-law’s empty house since her very recent, sudden death, her things are everywhere as one would expect. Mom (G) had a lot of things. She was not a hoarder, but had many decorations, knicknacks are everywhere and the walls are filled with photos, quilts and other…

I recently heard a boat captain say that every night they plot the course for the next day and check the weather. Good advice for all of us. On land or sea.  

As I entered the hospital for outpatient surgery, I carried nothing with me. No phone, no purse, no jewelry, not even my wedding rings. It was an odd feeling to be just me, but not an unpleasant one. As I got dressed after the procedure, habit had me looking for…

While getting my stitches out two weeks after foot surgery, my husband and I received a call that his mom had suffered a massive stroke. A few hours later, we learned she would not survive. A week later, she was gone. She was vibrant and healthy and had more energy…

“I woke up blind without warning and live my life with very little sight. And yet foot surgery has shown me that there are still so many lessons left to learn.”   * DL = Disabled Lessons

When you dodge a proverbial bullet, there is usually some type of injury from the warning shots that were no doubt fired (how else would you know to duck/run/take cover?) and the intricate maneuvering you’ve had to perform to avoid being hit (without time for stretching) by a bad business deal,…

My husband has suddenly developed the habit of leaving empty water bottles all over the house. After the three stages of old-married-coupledom: 1) Ask, 2) Tell, 3) Yell, I thought perhaps a story was in order. After all, that’s how children learn. The text conversation went like this: Me: In “Sex…