Happy New Year! It's been at least a decade & a half since I wrote a holiday letter updating family & friends on all my biz, but that's certainly not because there's been a lack of any significant biz to report. The truth is, I don't really know why I haven't written a holiday update in so long.  Perhaps I haven't written one because everyone seems to know everything that's going on now-a-days anyways.  My generation does do a pretty good job of keeping the whole world updated, right down to a photo of what we ate for breakfast this morning.  It could be because someone actually told me years ago my letters were so annoying that they actually made her angry.  (They probably really were annoying, and I think she might have been right).  Maybe I avoided writing it because my ... View Post

Recently I had a day off and the opportunity to sit at the kitchen table of my friend Edna.  That's always a treat, and I never walk away without having gleaned some little nugget of wisdom.  This particular day was no different. Edna and I frequently exchange emails, updating one another on our families, our prayer requests, what's happening in our worlds, we discuss books we're reading, and when we'll see each other again.  Every TIME either of us type the word "time," in our emails, or handwrite it in a greeting card, we highlight it, underline it, capitalize it...     It seems as though we've had hundreds of conversations about TIME over the years that we've enjoyed our friendship.  And learning how to be a good steward of my TIME is something I have Edna to thank for.  (I'm still a ... View Post

It's Apple Cider Mill season in Michigan, and yesterday Rory & Holly invited me to accompany them, Lyla, & Owen to Blakes Cider Mill.  We took a hay ride on the back of a tractor, with Lyla and Owen dangling their feet and pointing out all of the props for the haunted hay ride at night.  We walked through wet grass, trying not to trip on all of the apples that had already fallen to the ground, filled a bag with Pink Lady apples, and then hopped on the tractor to head back.  After that, we petted goats, ponies, and rabbits, laughed at polka-dotted chickens, and helped the kids climb to the top of the haystack.  Then we watched as the kids rode these (I'm not even sure what to call them), bike things - kind of like a tractor crossed with a tricycle kind of bike...   and then I ... View Post

When I find myself telling a story over and over, I figure - it must be one worth sharing, and this is one I seem to tell frequently, so here goes... It was probably about five years ago.  I was working my normal 12-hour shift in ICU, and this particular day my patient was a 94-year-old woman who'd had a stroke that morning.  (We'll call her Norma, because I like that name ;) Norma's grandson had found her slumped over in a chair, and she was unable to move the right side of her body, her face drooped, and the words she attempted to mumble really didn't make much sense.  He called 911, and that's when she came to me. Norma's family members stood vigilant in the hospital ICU room throughout the day as I whisked her out for medical procedures, and interrupted them over and over for ... View Post