Let Me Be The One To Worry About Her — From her, all blessings have flowed. I’m thankful for the parent who didn’t walk away, the quiet soul I could trust. My mother is a worrier. A lifelong worrier. And unfortunately, I have inherited her anxiety. I’ve always turned to her for comfort and advice. She was the only parent…

Responding to the Pandemic from Amish Country — Shortly after the warning came to wash hands frequently and stop shaking hands, I got “the flu” and was ordered to stay home. It was the fifth time I had been sick since the fall, and I was bitter. I had made every effort to boost my immunity. I took…

When is the last time you temporarily exited from the world? — When is the last time you were zoned? I’m not talking about your comfort zone. Nor the zone where your concentration and focus are at their peak, when you’re on a creative roll, performing better than you thought possible, and making what you do look easy. …

Comfort in a Small Package — I love cuddling with my husband in bed, but when he rolls over and his breathing turns to deep sleep, I feel alone. So I’ve taken to cozying up to the “Blob Seal” pillow. I was looking for neck support when I ordered my gray seal pillow. Soft and squeezable…

We were right not to — “For those of us who knew the pain of valentines that never came” ~ Janis Ian, “At Seventeen” For those of us who identified with Janis Ian, we learned long ago not to expect anything for Valentine’s Day. …

I didn’t know I was waiting for him — I’ve been thinking a lot about how time and patience work. For 4–1/2 years when my love and I were living 984 miles apart, there were weekends when I drove nine hours to steal three days with him. And cried when I had to leave him again and make that…

Find a good boss — How does one survive a bad boss? When the movie “Horrible Bosses” was released, I stopped watching after about five minutes. I wanted to laugh, but I had experienced bosses like them in three jobs. In two of those jobs, horrible bosses double-teamed to make my life miserable — or…

What’s the weirdest belief you held as a child? I believed the voice on the radio came from a little man inside the cabinet. If we were able to watch the Danny Williams family on The Danny Thomas Show, it seemed to me that his TV family must be able…

How to live with someone who is — My closet has no skeletons, but it might as well, if you ask my husband, who knows my dolls are stored there. Were they on display, he’d be scared they were making mischief and trying to scare him. It’s not like these dolls resemble the homicidal Talky Tina from the…