Short: The Gift
Alexia refused gifts and thought family events were like emergency-room visits, painful and preventable. As another guest strolled by and squeezed her arthritic hand in greeting, she envisioned herself out in the garden of her old home, the aroma of jasmine wafting about her on the warm spring day. Instead, she sat in the over-sanitized dining hall of an assisted living home, barraged by well meaning, but quite annoying friends and family. She turned ninety-five today. The day marked an anniversary of another kind as well, it was three years ago today they moved her into this place. She’d wanted to die in her own home, but her family thought otherwise. They wanted her to die amongst the care of strangers, those paid to pretend they wanted...
Read MoreWhy I Chose American Heritage Girls
At this time of year there seems to be a huge ramping up of all our obligations. It’s especially true of parents with older children—there’s always somewhere to go, or someplace to be. I have many friends who are reevaluating their schedules for next year now. My advice is to wait until the fire cools before cutting and running! For some reason, American Heritage Girls often shows up on that list of obligations, along with other valuable programs. But, I disagree—I don’t think of AHG as an obligation, I think of it as a God given opportunity. A few years ago, when my daughter was in 2nd grade, I felt she had a lack of good close friends. She had one or two, but she’s a very social girl, and I wanted to give her another opportunity to meet...
Read MoreEner-G Foods (my new ally)
We had an ALMOST bad experience the other day. That’s not proper English, is it? But, that best describes it! We have used many Ener-G brand products over the past year. Breads, egg replacer (I prefer flax meal now–seems to make things rise better), crackers, pretzels (yummy sesame seed covered ones) and the like. We can only get their brand through our local grocer, and the items they carry are all gluten, dairy and egg free. So, when I glimpsed their brand on Amazon, and saw the word “donuts” I didn’t hesitate to order. I’m not a baker (except cookies)–and when I fry foods, they often come out oily, so I avoid frying. Anyway, my son has asked many times if gluten free, egg free, dairy free donuts exist,...
Read MoreWell Worn Paths
I stood in front of an office building today and noticed that the paths the designer intended people to use were once again ignored. You’ve probably seen that around buildings and houses before—people cut a path through the grass or bushes, often to take the easiest course. It takes more than one person to use that path and wear down a nice groove in the earth. So, when you see that, you know travelers before you found that to be the quickest way to their destination. Unfortunately, this kills the grass, shrubs or flowers planted there. I’m sure it’s very frustrating to the landscape designer, or architect, who laid out the sidewalks in a fashion best for traffic flow and then planted greenery there to make it attractive. But humans often take...
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