Coming Home to Myself

Breaking out of a Mold

In aging, there’s a tendency for one’s life to become humdrum, every day the same. And that’s all wrong! The last thing we want or need is for one day to duplicate the previous, stretching back and back ad nauseam. It sure messes with my memory when I can’t remember something because it’s exactly whatContinue reading “Breaking out of a Mold”

Continuing Education

I’ve taken too few classes in recent years, but last night I attended a Zoom session (through SCBWI) taught by Caroline Leech on “Tell Your Story to Sell Your Story.” She spoke of the different audiences one might address, and how we adapt our back stories to suit our audience, whether children, parents, or agentsContinue reading “Continuing Education”

A Life in Transition

A few weeks back, I went on a reading binge. It also meant I was watching a lot fewer DVDs. I took a week off to read YA novels—and I haven’t stopped reading since. Browsing available library ebooks, one title caught my eye. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, by Lori Gottlieb, a psychotherapist. Gottlieb,Continue reading “A Life in Transition”

Lost Anchors

For the past several days, I’ve been trying to identify a coherent theme for this week’s blog, This morning, a friend, her grief fresher than my own, said, “I feel like I’ve lost my anchor.” That was it exactly! She too had a husband with dementia, and had been making the decisions for them both.Continue reading “Lost Anchors”

Escapes

I indulged myself last week—removed myself from time and space—especially time, since I blanked out an intended visit to a friend on Saturday and only remembered Sunday afternoon. I sent abject apologies, of course. Actually, I haven’t really stopped escaping now, simply slowed down. There was reason behind my reading binge. I called it research.Continue reading “Escapes”

Adapting to new realities

My apricot tree rarely produces a bumper crop, but it does its best to produce at least a few fruits each year. This year’s February and March were months of widely varying weather. The apricot’s first buds appeared at the beginning of March, what amazes me is that they continued to appear. Even now, withContinue reading “Adapting to new realities”

Life—It’s all about the little things

Yes, I advise myself to stay calm. To breathe. To relax. But none of these are helpful when my real problem is feeling ignored and helpless. In fact, for the first time since the switch to daylight savings, I got up early to join my coffee group to find real people to complain to. MyContinue reading “Life—It’s all about the little things”

Serendipities

Another month gone. Already? I know, I know. The speed of time is all in our minds. The longer we live, the more we repeat actions like locking the car or driving to the store. Only new experiences slow down our perceptions. But seeing time fly past accentuates the slowness of my writing progress. IContinue reading “Serendipities”

When Friends Show Up

I’m thinking of a phone call that came on a day I was feeling particularly glum. I like that word, meaning “gloomily sullen or silent,” from the Low German meaning “turbid, muddy”. That fits. To me, glumness holds vibes of living in a colorless world. This particular caller was also grieving losses, the first timeContinue reading “When Friends Show Up”

Blue

In her journals, Anne Morrow Lindbergh wrote about her grief in losing her first born child —the famous Lindbergh baby kidnapping. She spoke of focusing on high-reaching objects (I don’t remember specifically what) but I picture trees or mountains. And in fact, I’ve done a lot of looking up this past year, but recently IContinue reading “Blue”