Grab 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…

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Blending the Good Stuff into our Lives

February 4, 2011 We’re just five weeks into the new year and for much of it we’ve experienced bone-rattling cold. If you launched into 2011 with a pocket full of resolutions, good intentions and optimism, how are you faring, particularly if improving fitness was high on your list? It takes a lot of discipline to…

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An Attitude of Gratitude

Watching news reports of massive snowstorms across the country earlier this week, I was overcome with gratitude.  I’m grateful that, for once, we who live in the Twin Cities escaped the storm. I ‘m grateful that I live in a warm house with food in the fridge and cars in the garage.  I’m grateful that…

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A Gift from Guatemala

June 24, 2010 Before she set foot in Guatemala last month, Lauren Scharmer sensed her life was about to change. Her intuition was correct. Scharmer was one of 16 seniors and two chaperones from Convent of the Visitation School whose mission trip to Central America took an unexpected turn when a confluence of two volcanic…

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A Road Map to a Life Well-Lived

March 12, 2010 It’s curious how we live life in denial, disregard, or even defiance of the one thing that is certain to occur to all. Death. It’s been 12 weeks since I got the phone call I’d strangely never anticipated. My husband, Ted, bearer of seven stents and survivor of a previous heart attack,…

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Health Care Reform Starts at Home

August 30, 2009 I was a college student in the late ’70s when word came that my 47-year-old single mother of five had colon cancer.  When the shocking news hit, roles reversed and I went into full mom mode.  Throughout her battle with cancer, I pleaded with her to try everything in the book to…

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