Writer, blogger
Sometimes you hit a patch of life when things are hectic and challenging. You hardly have time to move from one activity to the next while navigating unexpected crises. Fears and anxiety crowd your thoughts, jockeying for position, and stringing together coherent sentences is as difficult as smiling and acting interested while someone tells you […]
If you have ever experienced a health crisis, or other type of life crisis, you know the words and actions of others can help or harm. So with that in mind, here are some things to remember as you respond to others in crisis: Don’t be an armchair diagnostician It’s amazing how many people with […]
Recently, I saw a young friend whose current circumstances are full of uncertainty, yet her face radiated joy. As we talked, her words weren’t filled with a woe-is-me attitude, rather wisdom far beyond her years as she pointed out good mingled with the challenges. In life, there are things that just don’t make sense—the death […]
For almost 25 years, I’ve participated in a 5:30 a. m. cycling class, three days a week at my fitness center. Some days, I can hardly motivate myself to roll out of bed when the alarm goes off, and sometimes I’m a little late getting there, but attending this class is so much a part […]
Last weekend, I spent a night in the Emergency Department of our local hospital with a family member. As we entered, she said, “This was not on my list of things to do!” “A trip to the ER is never on anyone’s list!” I said, as we made our way down the hall. While the […]
Years ago, I flew out west to attend a writers’ conference. As the plane banked in its approach to the runway, I caught a glimpse of the dry, barren, rocky terrain below. As a native South Carolinian accustomed to lush, green landscapes, I was unimpressed, and slightly depressed, by this uninviting, drab, and seemingly lifeless […]
As a writer, I’ve always wondered what it was like to pen something as significant and monumental as the Declaration of Independence. Did Thomas Jefferson welcome the challenge? Did sentences form in his head faster than he could dip quill to ink pot? Or did he sit and ponder, staring at blank parchment as he […]
My 16-month-old granddaughter, Emerald, is adding words to her vocabulary at an exponential rate, parroting almost everything she hears others say. Sometimes, she doesn’t quite get the full word, but mimics the tune or changes the first letter to something easier to say. “Da-do” is thank you, and my grandmother name, “Glam,” is often “Blam” […]
I’ve always enjoyed working jigsaw puzzles. When I was younger, I often worked puzzles with cousins or on vacation. Sometimes, I was so intent on finishing a section of the puzzle, I lost track of time or didn’t hear when someone spoke to me. Often, life feels like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Interlocking challenges come […]
As a young mother, I remember the impact the suicide of a local health professional had on me. I was shocked, confused, shaken, and slightly afraid for some indefinable reason. My daughter was less than a year old and with my mother when I heard the news. I immediately went to get my daughter, again, […]