“I’ve decided I’m not buying my grandchildren Christmas presents anymore,” my sister-in-law told me. “I’m just going to start passing down my things.” “Oh my Lord, you’ve become Grandma,” I declared, remembering my own grandma’s tradition, and my disappointment when I got an engraved serving spoon when I was 16. This began the long weekend, as four of us, all sexagenarians, gathered for the first time in three years. It was like a bad stand up act for 60+ year olds who hadn’t seen each Continue Reading
Thanksgiving 2015
As I was finalizing my plans for Thanksgiving a week ago, thoughts of all I had to be grateful for flooded my mind – wonderful parents, siblings and extended family, friends, great health, a warm home, good food, a feeling of purpose… Pretty much the norm for most people I know. And then I volunteered at the Global Fest on Michigan State University’s campus on Sunday, and from the opening Chinese Lion Dance, it was clear what I am especially grateful for this year. Are you familiar with Continue Reading
What I Learned at my First Writing Competition
Yesterday, I competed in a day long writing event in honor of #NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, where the goal is to write 50,000 words. Sponsored by the Capital City Writers Association, it was a 12 hour day, and I was with 95 other people, camped out in Spartan Stadium’s press box on the beautiful campus of Michigan State University. Do I have a novel in me? Who knows; it’s more of a personal challenge, a stretch goal for sure. I certainly have the story, but translating it to Continue Reading
How Many More Do We Have To Lose?
I lost a friend yesterday to breast cancer, and I’m ticked. Frankly, I’m more than ticked, but for the purposes of this blog, I’ll leave it at that. And let me tell you why I'm angry. In 2015, at age 64, this woman died of the same ugly illness that took my mother from me in 1980 when she was just 59. Thirty five years, and I wonder what progress we’ve made. And the fact that she died on the last day of Breast Cancer Awareness month only makes me madder, and makes me wonder if the plethora of Continue Reading