Last week, I attended a social media workshop at a writer’s conference.  As the twenty-something speaker emphasized the necessity of an on-line presence, an old codger (and I use this word reverentially) raised his hand.  “What if you’re too old to catch that train?” (more…)

One of the most striking features of soap operas is that the characters never seem to be scarred by their tragedies. They live through illnesses, miscarriages, adultery, multiple divorces, and deaths but, the next year, they move on seemingly unscathed. We’re willing to suspend disbelief because the fiction is so satisfying, so comforting, so unlike real life. (more…)

 For our blended family, this has been a week of last minute changes.  One moment we were adding a Tuesday night to the kid’s usual schedule and the next we were subtracting a Tuesday and adding a Thursday.  Then we added a Monday, but that fell through at the last minute.  (more…)

They handed her to me, still covered in the fluids of birth.  She might have been an angel sent directly from heaven.  10 fingers.  10 toes.  Two tiny, little ears.  She was perfect in every way.

And somehow, eighteen years later, she’s all grown up.  The time passed at once quickly and slowly:  lazy days  . . . lightning years.  In a singularly long blink of an eye, her childhood is over and now, at least in the eyes of the law, she’s an adult. (more…)

Here we are on the cusp of another year – time for my annual contemplative “Hope and Cope Report.”  Rather than making a stale New Year’s resolution, this is my tradition of intentional reflection.With 4 simple columns marked “Knowns”, “Unknowns”, “Hopes”, and “Surprises,” I fill in the blanks of the past year and create a new sheet with my best predictions for the coming year. (more…)