Month: August 2006

During periodic fits of hypochondria, I lean back in my easy chair and begin researching everything I can to figure what is wrong with me that day. I don’t want to do actually anything about it – I just want to label my theoretical problem. The day I decided to address my family’s tendency to…

We don’t joke about drug abuse at our house. We know its pain, disappointment and cost, too well to laugh about it. As my daughter told students in her high school classes who joked about getting high over the weekend, “It is not funny, not when it is your brother doing it.” I don’t know…

We don’t joke about drug abuse at our house. We know its pain, disappointment and cost too much to laugh about it. We see, all too clearly, how much our loved one has paid – not just financially – but physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually. It’s sad to look at him and remember his joyful…

A fellow reporter was out on assignment yesterday. I took a call for her. The caller only wanted to leave her comments, not her name. Okay, I took the comments: The caller thought the reporter’s column should have been clearly labeled that it was her opinion. (I pointed out it was on the editorial page…

No Fair! God. No Fair! That is exactly how I felt that long ago winter as a young mother. It began with a really bad mistake in my check writing. We had agreed to send something each month to help some missionary friends of ours. As Christmas time neared, I felt like we should give…

Mark’s accident left me acutely aware that I had failed as a mother. Weighed down with guilt, I mechanically did what I had to do during the day, and woke up in the middle of the night just thinking. I was pregnant at the time. For the first time I tested positive for toxemia. I…

In the years since a car accident took his left arm, my son-in-love has developed quite a repertoire of responses to the inevitable question, “how did you lose your arm?” “I lost it in an accident when I was 2,” he truthfully began in response to one inquiry. Then he, paused, looked down, shook his…

My daughter invited me to go to the fabric shop with her to “check out material for decorating the baby’s room.” I agreed to tag along – and that is about all I did. She already knew exactly what she wanted to use for making a valance, a crib sheet, bedskirt and a bumper pad.…