Last year, my husband Frank and I planned a trip of a lifetime—a Rhine River cruise through the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Switzerland. Twenty-four days before the trip, though, Frank ended up in intensive care with a major health crisis.…
Hara Hachi Bu. My daughter and her husband, who are both dieticians, taught my grandsons to end their mealtime prayer with this Japanese phrase. Hara Hachi Bu means “eat until you’re 80% full.” According to Dan Buettner, author of “The…
While my daughter, grandson, and husband pier-fished on a Gulf Coast lagoon, the wind swept one of our plastic bait containers into the waves. We felt awful, but it would be dangerous to swim or kayak out to get it,…
Over forty years ago, I stood next to the man who later became my husband at an Upham Woods campfire. After hearing his mellow baritone during the group’s singing of Kumbaya in that romantic outdoor setting, I was a goner.…
I’m walking along the sandy white beach of Gulf Shores, Alabama, looking for treasures from the sea. Today I chose a remote stretch of beach, one littered with barnacle-covered driftwood and debris such as bottles, ropes, and bent crab traps.…
I often wish I could live two lives so I can squeeze everything in. One way to live a second life is by traveling and connecting with new people. While playing pickleball in Alabama, my husband and I met Cathy…
Are you feeling draggy these days? Have the doldrums got you down? I have good news for you. March 19 is National Let’s Laugh Day. Mayo Clinic points out that laughter enhances our intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates our heart,…
I avoid looking in the full-length mirrors as I find a spot in the back of the Alabama fitness center. I don’t want to see this dowdy, klutzy body. My aching back and sore knee would rather nap in the…
“Charles, it’s your serve, right?” I asked my tennis opponent. He looked around, confused. “Charles?” I repeated. “Who’s Charles?” he asked. I’d done it again. My writer’s brain names people as if they were characters in one of my manuscripts.…
If you think back to your childhood home and neighborhood, did it influence your personality? I spent my teen years in a house that overlooked a duck pond. The pond and surrounding farm area not only educated me about the…