Renewing My Lease.

In May, I was informed by my health insurance company that the plan I have had with them for twenty years will be cancelled in 2018, and I will have to find a new health insurance policy. With a pre-existing condition, and an expensive prescription, this is, at best, disconcerting. In June, I hit my […]

An Open Letter to Siblings, From Caregivers.

Family history and dynamics can be brutal. We know that, for whatever reason, you weren’t able to care for our parent and we were. We understand that you may also have been too busy/ill/occupied to help us with our parents’ care so we thought it was best to just go ahead and do what was […]

The Turn of the Year.

I made Christmas cookies yesterday, which always makes me nostalgic. Mom used to make ten or fifteen types of cookies; she made some of the same kind every year but she also liked to experiment with a new recipe or two every year. I remember what the shelf looked like with all the cookie tins […]

Crossing the Border.

A recent horoscope I read (Rob Brezsny is amazing, look him up!) advised me to use caution as “you gear up for your rite of passage or metaphorical border crossing.” I usually love Brezsny’s horoscopes but this one really caught my attention because of the sheer number of role changes, rites of passage, and crossings […]

A Lame of Inches.

I’m not a huge sports fan but I do enjoy football and I often listen to it on the radio. The other day, I heard someone reference the saying about football being a game of inches, although I think sports fans would argue that success or failure in most sports can come down to inches. […]

The Last Voyage.

You know how it is, when you find yourself in the middle of some task or event, and you realize right in the middle of it that, not only have you never done anything like this before, but it is a completely surreal experience? I found myself doing just such a task two weeks ago, […]

July 1938 – May 2016.

I got the call last Thursday at 11; Dad had taken a turn for the worse and Greg thought my sister and I should come over soon. Having just come from the gym, I rushed through getting ready and got on the road a short time later. When I got to his room, my sister was […]

How Caregiving Ends.

I’m sitting in Dad’s room, watching him sleep, as I have so often. The twitching from his Parkinson’s has gotten worse and his body is in almost-constant motion. It looks uncomfortable. The room is small, just a bed and his recliner, so seating is limited. I’m currently perched on his wheelchair, which is fine – I’m […]

What if Everything Just Happens.

“We are neither our point of origin nor our goal; the former is long gone, the latter forever recedes as we move forward. We are the journey itself…The great rhythm of gain and loss is outside of our control; what remains within our control is the attitude of willingness to find in even the bitterest […]

A Passion for Compassion.

As I’ve been going about my day, my grief for my father weighing on my neck and pushing at the back of my eyes, I’ve been looking at the people around me, which I’ve always loved doing. I thought about the fact that it’s possible that everyone we see walking around during our day is walking […]