GUN CULTURE

It seems fitting to re-post what I wrote last year after 20 children and six teachers were killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Let us not forget. When we were traveling in Ireland this past October, our Irish tour guide told us that Ireland did not have a “gun culture” as…… Continue reading GUN CULTURE

GETTING ON THE BUS Part I of 2

The first night in a hotel room in Estoril, Portugal, my heart, flipping about in my chest, jolted me awake. Thump. Thump. Thump. Silence. Then a rush of horses’ hooves clopped on my ribs. Trying to ignore my heart’s gymnastics, I tried to go back to sleep but the Mariachi band playing under my ribs…… Continue reading GETTING ON THE BUS Part I of 2

FINALLY SHARING OUR STORIES?

Nurses Week starts tomorrow, May 6, which is known as National Nurses Day and ends on Florence Nightingale’s birthday, May 12th.  While I feel nurses deserve appreciation for their work 365 days a year, who am I to disregard an opportunity to spotlight actual nurses and their contribution to health and healing.   I have…… Continue reading FINALLY SHARING OUR STORIES?

ONE SMALL STEP

I hear my five-year old grandson laughing and think of the twenty first-graders killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. How safe will his school be next year? The National Rife Association suggestion of an armed guard in the hallway of each school doesn’t reassure me but persuades me all the more to do what…… Continue reading ONE SMALL STEP

Humor and Humility

It started out on a rainy day in January. Like the rest of overweight America, I had resurrected old New Year resolutions. I wandered into a branch of a not-to-be-identified weight loss program and approached a young lady sorting out pamphlets. After giving me the information I requested, she excitedly told me that I would…… Continue reading Humor and Humility

Same Old New Year’s Resolutions

This year I hesitated to make any New Year resolutions. Why? Because for the last five years, at least, they remain the same: Write the book. Lose the weight. Exercise more. The only thing that changed was the pounds I wanted to drop. They increased yearly. Now it’s 20 pounds! I felt defeated. Depressed. But…… Continue reading Same Old New Year’s Resolutions