Tonight I'm sitting at home because of the Coronavirus aka COVID-19. I'm very disappointed because I'd planned to go with friends to a Western dance at a new venue with live music. It's a small thing, I know, compared to the big fears of folks catching this virus that's unfamiliar and has no vaccine. But … Continue reading Found Time: Looking Back and Looking Forward
Baby Boomer Marital Separation
Our Best-Laid Plans
Throughout our marriage, my husband David has often called me a planner; always thinking about what's ahead, using lists and keeping calendars to stay on track. It's true that I've usually had a pretty clear idea of where I was headed and what I wanted. I've been goal-directed and was one of those people who … Continue reading Our Best-Laid Plans
Saying Goodbye to My Christmas Guest
I left the hospital that Monday night excited that my friend Delores would be coming to stay with me rather than at the hospital hotel. Her husband, Johnny had been admitted to the UNC Cancer Hospital on December 2cnd to treat complications from melanoma. I could see Delores was exhausted from spending her days at … Continue reading Saying Goodbye to My Christmas Guest
Bare Trees: A Season of Rest
My favorite thing about winter is the silhouetted beauty of bare trees against the light of dawn. I love the shapes of the branches and how they reach heavenward as well as the negative space between the limbs-- forming sky-colored puzzle pieces of emptiness. The quietness of the season comes as such a relief from … Continue reading Bare Trees: A Season of Rest
Not a Usual Christmas
Christmas trees have always been one of my favorite traditions of this holiday season. Recently, I toured the Biltmore House in Asheville during the special Downton Abbey Exhibition. The tour guide told us there were seventy decorated trees inside the house and seventy outside. Because of the massive rooms with high ceilings, most of the … Continue reading Not a Usual Christmas
Step Forward on Your New Path
Last Thursday afternoon, with my belly full of Thanksgiving turkey, cornbread dressing, sweet potatoes, topped off by apple-pecan pie a la mode, I drove through the country toward the Eno River State Park. The weather was perfect for a hike-- sunny and fifty-seven degrees with a gentle breeze. There were still touches of fall foliage … Continue reading Step Forward on Your New Path
Waiting for the View
Today I've been thinking about my solo journey five years ago to Michigan. The place I'd looked forward to visiting the most was Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. All the photos I'd seen of Lake Michigan from the vantage point of the dunes, showed a vast expanse of tropical-like water with varying hues of blue-green. … Continue reading Waiting for the View
Finding Light for a Dark Path
This was a tough week. It started with my therapy session on Monday night. It had been a while since I'd seen my therapist so there was a lot to tell. He listened to me recount the sadness that had been predominant. It seemed that two recent losses had unloosed an avalanche of emotion within … Continue reading Finding Light for a Dark Path
A Time to be Nurtured
There are things I learned going through cancer that have served me well since that time-- now over nineteen years ago. One that came to mind on a hot day this past August, was the need to take breaks from your situation by getting away to another place. When I dealt with breast cancer, I … Continue reading A Time to be Nurtured
No Limits: “I Did It!”
My grandson Baker is 16 months old. For him, the world is a wide-open classroom of exploration. He’s as interested in how to use a screwdriver to put batteries in his toy as he is in the smell of a flower. Everything fascinates him. He hasn't lived long enough to put limits on himself, to … Continue reading No Limits: “I Did It!”
