I realize my blog can sometimes carry themes -- depending on what I'm experiencing in life. Loss is the theme for my recent blogs because that is what is consuming my life right now. Of course you know, my mom died suddenly in March. And while the grief is profound, it is eased by knowing she was ready to go, and that I'll see her again someday. A lot of my time since her death has been spent cleaning her house and getting it ready to sell. It's been exhausting and sometimes sad, but also … [Read more...]

Some blogs are easy to write and some blogs are hard. Today's blog is the hardest one I’ve ever had to write. I’ve started it about 10 times. The thing is, my mom died. At 82 years old, she just didn’t feel well, had a weak pulse, went to the ER, and died. Doug and I were vacationing with friends at the Outer Banks in North Carolina. My mom and several other family members were in southern Utah to help my sister, Sallie, move to a new home for a new job.  At the end of the day, I called to see … [Read more...]

My daughter Annie wrote a blog about what she knows for sure. She was inspired by Oprah's book "What I Know For Sure." And, the inspiration continues because Annie's blog inspired me. I loved Annie's honesty when she wrote, "What I know for sure is that I need more time to figure out what I know for sure!" Don't we all? She's dedicated to figuring it out and sharing what she knows for sure in her health coaching blog. So, she got me thinking today while I'm at the beach...What do I know … [Read more...]

For the last couple months, I've been working on a writing project with my friend, Lisa, that involves perusing our old journals and reading old letters we wrote to each other. Lisa and I started writing to each other after we spent a summer working together on Capitol Hill in 1979. And, surprisingly, we both kept most of those letters. We're not sure why we stopped writing letters except that the letters seemed to slow after the advent of email. As we have shared portions of our letters … [Read more...]

I've been texting my brother this morning about some Christmas returns that we need to make. Then I told him I have a new computer and wondered if he wanted my old one. "Yes!" he texted, "if mom doesn't give it away first like she did the last computer you gave me." I forgot about that. I gave him a computer a few years ago and mom saw it in her house and gave it away to someone else. She's been known to give away some pretty big things. Several years ago, she really wanted a dog. My aunt … [Read more...]