I just titled this story before I ever wrote this sentence. You have no idea just how unusual that is for me. And, it was easy too. You'll see why shortly. This is a true story ;) One day a long, long time ago... Thanksgiving 1985 to be precise... I was stationed at the Presidio of Monterey in Northern California. I was learning how to speak Italian at the Defense Language Institute, the first of my four times being stationed in California. I wanted to get down to my Dad's brother's home in Anaheim and spend Thanksgiving with my family. My classmate and friend Wendy who was from Boston also had family in LA, so we planned a long weekend trip from Northern California to Southern California, and decided to see the Coast and take Highway 1 to get there. I would never, ever ... View Post
A Hero Among Us, in Chesterfield Township
I come across all sorts of people every day. You probably do, too. Sometimes, I just have short two- or three-sentence conversations while standing in line at the post office, or other times longer exchanges while doing a myriad of things throughout the day. I pretty much talk to everyone. My friend Nancy recently insisted I have a conversation with a friend of hers, telling me what an incredible human being this gentleman was. She specifically wanted him to tell me a particular story that took place many decades ago. So, I called him one night. Wow! In a world where it seems lately that no one cares about anyone but themselves, chatting with this man and listening to him re-tell the very story my friend wanted him to share was such a breath of fresh air. And couldn't we all ... View Post
Entertaining Angels
Airport terminals with rows and rows of connected seats are filled with people wearing headphones, or earbuds, or chatting on their phones each time I'm at an airport for travel. Few people make eye contact. Excited children are playing on Mom & Dad's phones or playing video games on I-pads. Usually I'm the one with a book. I'm also often the one who talks to total strangers, a lesson I never learned as a child NOT to do - but I've sure met some interesting people in airports, and I remember them, even decades later! For example... There was Linda, the RN who volunteered to sit by me in the last row next to the lady who admittedly had COVID and coughed all the way to Denver. The gentleman who was assigned to that seat didn't fit in that added row of seats because he was ... View Post
Only If You’re Irish
The last couple of hours here at the kitchen table, I've been trying to straighten up my calendar for the months of February and March. I always look forward to turning the page and seeing a "clean slate," but that's not what awaits me for February 2023. Tomorrow is February 1st, and the entire month is already a hot mess of scribbles and even some white-out. It's all good stuff, but seriously - YIKES! Getting my St. Patrick's Day events on the calendar and looking forward to seeing faces from the Irish crowd I don't get to see as often as I'd like to, I sat back and remembered this time of year growing up. I have some really, really fond memories! And then I started to laugh remembering those good old days when my boys were young - the same time of year. I hope they cherish them as ... View Post
You’re Not Your Hair
Coming out of a crowded bathroom after seeing Winnie the Pooh Live today, I told my daughter-in-law about a little girl named Lyla, that our very own Lyla and I had met while washing our hands. Her middle name was Song, to honor her Korean grandmother, and her maiden name. Lyla shared her middle name with the little girl, and they both giggled, fascinated that they shared the same name. Holly laughed because she couldn't believe Lyla and I had participated in that long of a conversation with a stranger in such a short time in the bathroom. But we did! People are interesting, and it's not uncommon for me to talk to everyone, everywhere. Just ask my mother. She says I haven't changed a bit since first grade when the nun at school said I talked too much, and promised to put a star on ... View Post
Last But Not Least, December!
Last, but not least... December Realizing how very, probably even less than ordinary my life is, I am still not sure why a year ago I committed to blogging about each of my month's activities. I've always kept journals, since I was young and got my very first diary for Christmas one year, complete with a lock and key! I like to periodically go back and read through them, reminisce, laugh, and sometimes shed a tear (or ten). This, however, will be the 12th, and the last blog about 2022. Each of the last 12 months I've skimmed through the month and remembered all that I'd accomplished, or fun things I've done, friends I've spent time with. Today, I'm flipping through December, and then I'm shopping for a fun new planner! Here we go... Got snow tires put on the Outback early ... View Post
Remembering Our Babies
Just one week from tomorrow will mark what would have been my daughter's 32nd birthday. Her name was Jacquelyn Anne. She was my first child, my daughter, and was born with a neural tube defect called "anencephaly." We found out one week prior to her birth, that her neural tube never closed, and this resulted in severe spina bifida, and her brain never forming. She was stillborn on January 11, 1991. An ultrasound the week prior to her birth alerted my physician, and she quickly called in another physician to have a look. "Should I be worried?" I asked her, but she reassured me and said not to worry until she told me I had reason to worry. Then, she handed me a piece of paper, a referral to an OB GYN with "rule out anencephaly" written on it, and sent me 150 miles away to Loma Linda ... View Post
Everyone Loves A Whale??
Up North. As a kid growing up, I always wondered where this mysterious place was. Neighbors hooked their boats on to the back of their station wagons not long after the last day of school, and then left for what seemed like an eternity. For many summer vacation weeks I missed my friends, and all I knew was that they had a cottage, and we didn't. They went up north, and we went to Nova Scotia. I had no idea where this "up north" place was, and neither did I realize Nova Scotia was wayyyyy more north than their up north! Late August it was so much fun when suddenly, out of nowhere, we'd be in the middle of playing outside, and down Hemingway Street we'd see the Poison Family station wagon with it's boat in tow, headed home. "The Poison's are home! The Poison's are home!" And ... View Post