Last night I wrote a blog post called "My Mish Mash Blog." And like always, I received a text from my life-long friend, Jean. She said she had commented on the blog, but when I checked, she had not. This has happened many times, but last night I told her that perhaps she had submitted it incorrectly. We're both in our 60's, and technology seems to be a few laps on the track ahead of us both, so maybe it was in fact, a technical issue. A short time later, Jean texted me back and said she realized she had never, ever, in the past many, many years, ever actually submitted ANY of her comments. As a subscriber to my blog, she would receive an email alerting her that I had posted a story, and she would then respond. But last night after I alerted her that I've never, ever received any ... View Post
My Mish Mash Blog
About an hour ago or so, I was texting on Instagram with my sweet and funny friend, and we were sending hilarious reels back and forth to each other. I finally said, "Hey - on a serious note - give me some content for a story because I've got a deadline of tonight to turn one in to the newspaper. Did I mention my friend is not just sweet, but is hilariously funny? Well she is. So, here's what I got... Awe Iran-Contra Affair Panic attacks induced by the minutiae of traveling. The cure for entitlement. Loneliness is worse than smoking. Planting flowers even though they eventually die. My response? "You're killin' me, Smalls." But okay, I love a challenge.... AWE: My sweet, funny friend and I both just finished reading "Awe" by Paul David Tripp, ... View Post
Sing My Name
It's May 25th, and I went shopping for flowers today. There were US flags, and everything you can imagine red, white, and blue in anticipation of 4th of July. (People - can we get through Memorial Day first?) Sheesh. I sat on my front lawn for almost two hours planting what felt like 700,000 purple petunias and not once checked my phone, but instead just enjoyed the time with my hands in the dirt and the lack of any noise. Getting my hands dirty planting flowers always makes me remember my Dad, because he loved helping me this time of year, and he showed me how to do it perfectly. I haven't planted anything in three years, so many memories came flooding back. So many of those memories were of my childhood. We lived on a corner lot in an 800-square-foot bungalow, and although I ... View Post
The Adventures of Rita & Rita
There's a breeze coming in through the doorwall, the TV is off, there's absolutely no noise, and across the room I see my little figurine named "Rita" from the Disney movie "Flush" my friend Annie gave me for Christmas several years ago. She's sitting on the kitchen table, and I sware to you - she's staring right at me. Annie and I used to have this tradition where we would give each other a Christmas gift that didn't cost us anything. She was much more creative than I was, and when she gave me "Rita" she said it was because I reminded her of Rita's character - adventurous and brave, (and also probably because we share a name). Well, I'm not sure I'd describe myself as brave - adventurous YES!, but brave - eh. I dunno. Well, when I turned 50 I sillily (that is my new word) ... View Post
Without Excuse
Last night I woke up every time I turned my head. It's THAT time of year again when allergies cause me to have vertigo, and every toss and turn results in the beginnings of nausea until nothing but lying perfectly still makes it stop. Then I doze off, turn again, and then wake up nauseous, and repeat. It was a long night. Despite the annoying allergies, however, I am always grateful to welcome spring, even with its magnificent lightening and thunderstorms because eventually all of that rain brings about the burst of colorful spring blooms, and my neighborhood is especially gorgeous this time of year. Sadly though, some of the trees bloom for only about ten days - so vertigo or no vertigo, I had to pop some Benadryl and go for a stroll and enjoy the trees before they lose their ... View Post
Good Examples of Bad Examples
I spent yesterday evening at my kitchen table with a close friend discussing all sorts of things. There's nothing I love more than kitchen table company, with or without food! Among the 75 things we chatted about for quite some time, was who we admired, looked up to, and find ourselves wanting to be more like. Well, as I was waiting for my friend to text me and let me know she arrived home safely, I began thinking about not only the person I admire most, but someone I admire least. Call me odd, but these are the kinds of things that happen when you live alone - you either talk to yourself (and answer), or you start thinking about all sorts of different things. So, I started to think about people in my past. I've had so many I'm grateful for, who have provided good examples for ... View Post
Registered Nurses – America’s Most Trusted Profession
I hesitated whether or not to ever blog this. But you know me and my "late night ponderings..." I've told this story to a couple of close friends over the past month, and was finally convinced that it was worth putting out there - even if it's the shortest blog I ever write. Maybe that means I'm jotting, instead of blogging. I dunno. Anywhoozywhatsit...... I've been a nurse a long time. I've traveled with my patients hundreds of times to diagnostic tests, procedures, scans, or x-rays, where I've had to convince them to trust myself and a team of other healthcare providers to move them from the safety and comfort of their bed, to a cold, hard, sometimes very narrow - metal table. They've had to trust that we would on the count of three - 1, 2, 3 - get them from one surface to ... View Post
Jungle Dreams
You know those seasons or circumstances in life that you find out you were never prepared for? I was never really prepared for motherhood. I was never really prepared to lose a baby. I was never really prepared to be divorced. I was never really prepared to be a single mom. I was never really prepared to have to go back to school - twice. I was never really prepared to raise two teenage boys alone. I was never really prepared to have both of my sons leave home at the same time - permanently, making me an empty nester overnight. I was never really prepared to be a mother-in-law. I was never really prepared to be a grandmother. I was never really prepared to have my son move halfway across the country. And I was definitely never prepared for some of the heartaches I've ... View Post