Month: April 2018

As the school year winds down to an end, former students recall certain teachers. As adults these men and women are still especially impressed with the expectations of some teachers. Too many times in the midst of all the paperwork, the job demands, the various problems and promises that each child brings, the low pay,…

Three years after returning home, feeling confident and involved with the church men again, Ted realized keeping his condition a secret magnified the stigma. “My symptoms haven’t changed, but my attitude toward them has,” he said. It was time to tell the church, encourage others with mental health issues and recognize the indispensable help he…

I shouldn’t have said it, but I did. I told my daughter. “I need to cut back on sugar, and I will … right after Easter.” I said it before I left to go supervise the St. Louis grandchildren and I resolved to not nibble away the tedium of travel with sweet snacks. Before we…

I finally figured out my problem. I have misophonia. Or as Wikipedia defines it, “a hatred of sound.” Certain sounds trigger negative emotions, thoughts and physical reactions. One universal instance it is that urge to do bodily harm at the sound of fingernails scraping a chalkboard. My first clue came as a college freshmen when…