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Perspective

Summer of 1996

April 14, 2024

One of the most influential summers of my life…1996. It changed my trajectory.  I went into the summer as a rising senior from Cornell University, bound for a profession in veterinary medicine.  I had no idea that things were about to change.  Or that it was perfectly okay to make a change. I came out, eyes wide open, bounding for something else. But what? I spent the summer…

Perspective Travel

Linens and Sunshine Back in 1952

February 18, 2024

A couple of weeks ago, I had lunch with a dear friend. She reached out to me in an email and asked if I wanted to have lunch with her…at her house. She wrote, “I know it’s old fashioned and not very fancy, but my hearing is getting quite bad, and it’s easier for me in a home setting.” That sounded lovely to me. When I walked through…

Perspective

The “Dead Inside” Picture

February 4, 2024

If you are a mom, I am sure you have one.   The picture that captures a moment in time when you are revealed. “I am dead inside from nurturing these children.” If you have been there, you get it. If you are in it, we get it, and we are here to tell you you will get out of it. If you haven’t yet gotten there–you don’t understand,…

Perspective

8 Going On 49

December 20, 2023

Today is the day I turn 49 years old.   It’s going to be a great day!   By the time many of you read this, I will have gone for a walk and plunged into my pool with my crazy plunger friends to celebrate the winter solstice.  This will be chased with a hot cup of coffee to take the chill off and maybe a piece of chocolate, too!…

Perspective

Ladybug Picnic

December 13, 2023

“1-2-3, 4-5-6, 7-8-9, 10-11-12 ladybugs, at the ladybug picnic.”  Are there any Sesame Street people out there? I grew up on it. Every morning after breakfast, my sisters and I would tune in while my mother got things in order for the day. At the oddest times, it comes back to me.  Something triggers a memory. Like today, Sesame Street poked me, and coming out of its long…

Perspective

A Choice

November 19, 2023

Thankful is a choice. Daily.  With every moment. It’s a practice.   This article is not about Thanksgiving Day but rather every day. It’s about the big things, like a new baby, a job promotion, and a new love.  They are so easy to be thankful for.   It is the little things, though, that get overlooked and are rarely appreciated that should be celebrated. A hot cup of…

Perspective

Fleeting

October 29, 2023

Things on my mind… It’s here, the end of summer, finally on October 29th. I put my flowers to bed for the season yesterday, just in time for the cold, wet weather to arrive this morning. Fall is here in the Northeast. I cut every possible flower I could find in my garden that still had vitality.  Now, I have beautiful bouquets all over my house, big vases,…

Perspective

Help! I Need Glasses

July 16, 2023

Finally, at the age of 48, I need to wear glasses for reading… and for looking at my phone and everything else I hold within my arm’s length.  And it stinks! When did this happen? It’s BEEN happening.  Just ask the kids. The little stinkers laugh and look at each other every time I navigate on my phone, and I have to hold it away from my body. …

Perspective Travel

It’s a Matter of Pride

June 11, 2023

Cleaning camp and driving tractors to school. It’s that time of year, I’m spreading myself in between my home and my camp. Both are anxiously awaiting my planting of flowers, my cleaning up the deck furniture, my dusting away the cobwebs, that have collected all winter. It’s hard. Sometimes I scratch my head and wonder, why do I do all of this? Run around like a crazy woman…

Perspective

This is one of my hot buttons…

March 19, 2023

This is one of my hot buttons… I abhor daylight saving time.  I hate it.   My body hates it.  My mind hates it. My life hates it.   Does anyone else feel as strongly as I do? The spring, in particular, is my biggest gripe, I don’t have the bandwidth at this stage in my life to lose an hour.   I remember when the kids were little–it was terrible. …