It was over a year ago that my brother, Craig, and his wife, Rosie, came to visit to help celebrate Mom’s 95th birthday. Mom (Marjorie) was living in memory care but was doing fairly well, considering. During that visit, we three “kids” began to talk in general terms about some day taking a cruise to Alaska maybe. The idea was planted but needed time to grow. On future visits for Mother’s Day and Mom’s 96th birthday, […]
I was feeling happy that morning as I began another day of retirement. And why not? I had slept until after 8, with no alarm clock or cat waking me up. Sunshine was streaming in my windows. Angie and Shadow kept me company, until they left for their own happy places in the sunroom. I had finished breakfast and was reading my print copy of the Chicago Tribune while I sipped a second mug of […]
Tomorrow will be a red-letter day here at Maples at the Sonatas. Actually, make that a red-box day, according to my calendar. But however you highlight it, the day will be significant. Tomorrow is Turnover Day, the moment when our community takes its next step toward completion. At a meeting tomorrow, our builder, Jamie Wilcox, will officially turn over the homeowners association to us, the homeowners. As is customary with construction, the builder […]
Orange Beach, Alabama “We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea–whether it is to sail it or watch it–we go back from whence we came.” John F. Kennedy There is a magic in the ocean that draws me to it, as if my DNA remembers that all life began in the sea. It holds the power to reset mind and body and spirit. I may stay here […]
There are many ways to remember loved ones. And even more ways to miss them when they are gone. A light scent of a familiar perfume, so subtle you may have only imagined it. The brush of a nubby tweed jacket across a bare arm. Sadly sweet notes of a nearly forgotten love song. A booming laugh. A whispered shhh that tickles in your ear. But sometimes the heart longs for something more tangible. An […]
