Posts Tagged ‘Family’
Bending, Blending and Setting Boundaries for an Even Better Year
This piece originally appeared in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on January 6, 2019. We’re days into a new year but I’m still thinking about the one we left behind. December was a whirlwind month, filled with fun, obligations, cheer, reverence, and stress. While it’s still fresh, I’m reflecting on what worked, what didn’t work,…
Read MoreChristmas Traditions, Joy and Memories
As seen in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on 12/19/15 Though Christmas is just days away I find myself strangely relaxed. Unlike years past, I haven’t been wracking my brain for clever stocking stuffers, for I didn’t hang the stockings this year. I’m not concerned about menus, for I’m not hosting a meal. Unfettered by…
Read MoreAddiction: Waiting for That Phone Call
August 5, 2011 Throughout her relatively brief career, media reports seemed to focus as much on British singer/songwriter Amy Winehouse’s troubled life as on her music. Last month, her father, outspoken about Amy’s drug and alcohol addiction, depression, early stage emphysema and legal woes, received the call he had anticipated, informing him his daughter had…
Read MoreHelping Kids Cope When Parents Deploy
July 22, 2011 Since 2001, more than 19,000 Minnesota National Guard members have been deployed around the world. In Operation New Dawn, the latest assignment, 2,400 members of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, will provide support for the military drawdown in Iraq. As they serve out the unit’s second largest deployment since…
Read MoreRoots, Wings and Guardianship
July 8, 2011 Helping our children to feel both grounded and independent is a fundamental tenet of parenting. So we give them roots and wings by imparting skills and values. We harp on them to buckle their seatbelts, eat their veggies, and treat others with respect. After we’ve counseled them on how to do their…
Read MoreMaking Memories Amid the Digital Noise
June 24, 2011 In three decades as a relocated Minnesotan, I typically haven’t spent more than a few days at a time vacationing in the state. Last week, I started a new tradition by spending six days at a family resort north of Park Rapids. When I entered the cozy lakeside cabin, the silence gripped…
Read MoreGrab Life by the Horns…
I never met Major Chuck Creech and for that I am most sorry. I heard a lot about Chuck and his wife Sara from my sister Traci, who counts them among her most treasured friends. Chuck was a military man who served our country with great pride and distinction. He earned two Meritorious Service Medals for…
Read MoreEmpowering the Caregiver
For well over a decade I was the Sullivan family medical crisis manager. It seemed the waves kept rolling in, starting with my son’s autism diagnosis, followed by my late husband’s first heart attack and subsequent visits to the heart clinic, my cancer, and my daughter’s bone marrow transplant. Someone always needed me, in a…
Read MoreGrateful Hearts this Valentine’s Day
February 11, 2011 This Valentine’s Day many will celebrate with gifts of jewelry or chocolate or by sharing a meal at a favorite restaurant. Angie MacDonald and her family will mark the day with gratitude for more than 200 strangers who saved her life 31 Valentine’s Days ago. Born prematurely to Charles and Cece MacDonald…
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