Hard Lessons, Healing, Parenthood
No one is ever ready to say goodbye to a parent, and I was no exception. When my mother suddenly passed away at the age of fifty-five, it was devastating. The only way I knew how to cope was to write, and when it came time to write her eulogy, I welcomed the chance to honor her.
Finding Happiness, Hard Lessons
I have lost many friends over the years. A few were stolen by Death (may they Rest In Peace), but far more of them I have lost to life…
Finding Happiness, Hard Lessons, Humor, Parenthood
There are things our parents choose to do that stay with us forever. These actions, good or bad, teach us the lessons we carry into adulthood and especially parenthood.
Like the time my older brother found a wallet filled to the brim with cash. I was four and he was seven, but as children of a single mother in the eighties, we already knew the value of a dollar; Mom was never one to shelter us from our reality. I remember my brother handing her the leather square in the narrow aisles of a pharmacy. I remember Mom looking around, then stuffing it deep underneath her arm in one swift movement…”
Finding Happiness, Hard Lessons, Healing, Travel
…Only a few hours later, I had booked a trip to Ireland so I could spend St. Patrick’s Day in the rowdy streets of Dublin. I had stumbled upon an affordable tour for college students offered by a company both Mom and I had formerly worked for. I would be spending two and a half days in Galway and four days in Dublin. This would only be the second flight of my life, and I tried not to be nervous. There was nothing I could or wanted to do about my excitement, though.
Finding Happiness, Hard Lessons, Healing, Humor, Parenthood
She hunches over, furiously scribbling on the paper taped to the floor. It is there to catch excess paint from the ceiling, but the men have packed up for the…
Here’s my proposal: forget resolutions. Instead, let us reflect. What can we learn from 2017?
I have one rule, and one rule only: know your financial, scheduling, emotional and mental limits, and try your very best not to push past them. That’s it. May you…