As with so many of our elderly, my 90-year-old mother Ginny is entering her 11th month trying to live her life at a senior living facility in Florida while simultaneously facing the confines of a relentless pandemic. It’s been hard. She’s been in full lockdown, experienced some freedoms last fall as restrictions eased, and currently, … More The Strain of Covid – An Update Inside One Senior Community
December 9th 2019. January 22, 2020. March 4, 2020. I remember these dates because they were all “action” days in my treatment plan for cancer. Blood draws every Tuesday. Radiation starting March 29. A stat scan and kidney flush over Memorial Day weekend. I suspect all this took root along my memory banks because of the … More Inside the C Folder -Things I’ve Learned
It was Christmas night 2017. We checked into a hotel for one night after celebrating the day with my husband’s family. We would drive home the next morning. The hotel sat across the street from a city park, and in that moment, it was beautiful. Our dark room’s windows lit up with the bright red, … More The Day After Christmas
When early stories of a new virus were breaking last February into March, I remember a nursing home being hit hard in Washington State and I remember people being stuck on cruise ships around the world because no country wanted to give them port of entry. But what resonated with me the most at that … More Covid Conversations From Italy
It was mid-September when I sent a text checking in with my sister and she replied “We’re with mom at the hair salon and she says hi.” This is how I learned that restrictions had been relaxed for my 90-year-old mother Ginny who had been in lockdown inside her senior living residence for 186 days. … More My Mother’s Post Lockdown – The Challenges Continue
This is the second half of the 72-year-old journal I found of my father’s time in Thule, Greenland during the summer of 1948. Click HERE to read Part I. (Any content appearing in parentheses are my own additions to provide more clarity.) August 3 I’ve been assigned to take care of our one and only … More Tales From Thule, Greenland Part II
Two unlikely circumstances recently collided in my small world which led to the re-discovery of a 72-year-old journal. The first happening was a six-part documentary series which aired in the early fall titled “Expedition to the Edge.” It was the story of The Infinity, a 40-year-old sailing ship with a stubborn (!) German captain named … More Tales from Thule: A Look Inside a 72-Year-Old Journal
The power of wind is as varied as the descriptive names for it: Chinook, Trade winds, gale force, Sirocco, the North wind and simply, breezes. We’ve all felt the sharp change when wind gusts appear right before a thunderstorm, bending trees and blowing lawn furniture. And we have felt the small joys when the wind … More Why We Want to Be Blowin’ in the Wind
I had the most interesting talk with my 30-year-old son Will last week. I was sharing how often my brain misfires these days. I mix up basic facts, I can’t find the right words while speaking, and I have forgotten more than once how to retrieve my cell phone voicemail. (I need to dial “1” … More Why I’m Losing My Mind: More Pandemic Fallout
I had my sixth and final scheduled round of chemotherapy for uterine cancer almost two weeks ago. Treatment is never a straight path and mine was no exception. Over the past several months, I have chronicled those experiences, but I realized that I had missed something. In fact, I had missed an entire side of … More A Candid Conversation With My Cancer Caregiver Husband
