Writer, Speaker, Editor, Blogger
Last year, my daughter experienced a sudden, critical health crisis. Despite rapid treatment, a significant vision deficit resulted. Over the next weeks and months, she navigated limitations and learned ways around them. In the process, other senses sharpened and she cultivated reliance on multiple stimuli for compensation and perception. Following are some insights regarding vision: […]
Have you ever experienced that odd sensation of moving when you are actually totally still? This sensation occurs when you have just pulled into a parking space while the person beside you is backing out. For a few seconds, you lose perspective, and although you have stopped, the movement of the person beside you makes […]
A number of legends exist about the origin of Valentine’s Day. One story is tied to the Roman fertility festival, Lupercalia. Another traces the origin to a priest named Valentine, who defied the Roman emperor’s ban on marriage for young soldiers and performed weddings in secret ceremonies. Another legend suggests Valentine was imprisoned for helping […]
What do you think of when you hear the word “hospitality?” Do think inviting friends to your home for dinner, or do you see visions of large hotel complexes and the hospitality industry? When I hear the word “hospitality,” I think of my mama. Whether an elaborate Christmas gathering with decorations, candles, and “party food” […]
My mother was a skilled and talented seamstress. She made elaborate draperies and table clothes without patterns, and designed and made her own clothes and many of mine. Her skill at altering clothes to fit was amazing and she was able to accurately hold colors in her mind and find accessories that perfectly matched and […]
My father was born January 19, 1919, during the Spanish flu pandemic that claimed over 500,000 lives. A few days following his birth, my father, and his mother, contracted flu. Both were extremely ill, but survived. My grandmother had two children before daddy’s birth and six more children after. My grandfather, father, and his two […]
When my children were growing up, and something they’d committed to became challenging, their inclination was to quit. Unless additional factors came into play, I encouraged them to continue to completion because I knew their feelings of frustration or being overwhelmed would likely subside in a few days. Additionally, I wanted to teach them the […]
January provides the opportunity for a fresh start, a chance to begin again, to make forward motion with plans and accomplish goals. But often those plans fall by the wayside with the first obstacle and goals are put aside when the hurdles are higher than expected or life intervenes. Sometimes the hurdles that halt forward […]
Ready or not, the new year is here. How do you approach it? Many are happy to put the challenges and heartaches of the old year behind and look forward with expectancy to the journey ahead. Others cast a backward glance, clinging to what is behind, hesitant to step onto the road before them. Following […]
I remember one Christmas Day, when our children were small, our daughter stood in a sea of ripped wrapping paper, lifted some of the larger pieces, and exclaimed, “Is that all”? We had been to multiple family celebrations over the course of several days. Each included a time of opening presents. Now, after much gift-opening, […]