My mother liked to give away jewelry that she didn't wear anymore but that was meaningful to her. She got great pleasure giving these gifts and seeing them joyfully received and worn. She had cancer for twelve years, but had an eight-year remission before she got sick and died. She contemplated downsizing from the house she and my father lived in for 30-plus years but ultimately decided to stay. I supported their decision "as long as you clean it out," I told her which she apparently took to ... View the Post
My Mother Continues to Teach Me Things Long After Her Death
Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas” Was 35 Years Ago, We Are so Old
When I think about the 80s, I still think of it as being about twenty years ago. It’s as if when we hit the year 2000, the progression of years just stopped, and somehow our beloved and iconic 80s still remain only a few years in the past. Then I will read an article about some monumental anniversary an event from the 80s is having, and I’m catapulted back to the realization that the 80s? Well, those years are actually closer to soon being labeled a generation in the past, not just a couple ... View the Post
Ten Ways to Find Middle Ground with Your Grown Kids over the Holidays
Holidays are a beautiful magical time of celebration and family. Except when they are not. Holidays can seem a bit less magical when your teen or young adult child stops listening for reindeer on the roof and starts pushing back on family traditions. When you are a lover of family traditions and pickled in holiday music (“There’s no place like home for the holidays”) this transition can be tough. It’s not the winsome little kid holiday experience of 5, 10, 15 years ago. Tips to find a ... View the Post
Colleges Bring Dogs to Campus During Final Exams to Help Stressed Students
It’s final exam season at colleges across the country which can only mean one thing; your kids are probably stressed out to the max mentally and physically exhausted. Also, it’s highly likely that at this point in the semester a bit of homesickness has finally kicked in (for freshmen especially), and as the year winds down most students are hanging on by a thread. Of course there are many less than ideal ways for them to kick back and de-stress, but college support staff, including those from ... View the Post
My Son Just Got Cut From the Team, What Do We Do Now?
So this happened. I was just finishing making dinner and waiting for my husband to pull in the driveway after picking up our oldest daughter. My youngest, a high school sophomore, had come home about an hour earlier from the second day of basketball tryouts, and I hadn’t even seen him yet as he was out in the driveway, in his natural habitat, shooting baskets. I looked out the kitchen window, and could see his school bag, and his sports bag on the edge of the driveway, atop the snow, and ... View the Post
Holiday 2019: Secret Santa Gifts Under $15 That Teens Will Love
Even though I try to start my shopping early, inevitably, I'm trolling the aisles of Target on December 24th, looking for Secret Santa gifts, stocking stuffers and the last-minute presents that I know my teens would love (read: the gifts I didn't know they wanted until they said something on December 23.) All of these items are under $15, which means you can stock up so that when your son or daughter comes home, telling you at the last minute that they need a gift, you'll be the cool mom with ... View the Post