I was one of the lucky ones in fifth grade.I flunked the vision test given at school by the county nurse. This was back in the day when the nurses in their white uniforms would show up- not to do lice checks, like they do now- but for vision and hearing checks. And the occasional school bus trip to the "big" school where we lined up in long rows and tried not to cry in front of our classmates when those same nurses gave us our vaccinations. Ouch.I must admit I was a little excited about the … [Read more...]

Where do you go for advice? Ellen? Dr. Phil? Judge Judy? Jerry Springer? (Goodness. I hope it isn't the last one!) Or maybe you turn to your friends whose lives are a mess, too.Our natural reaction is to go to a person who will agree with us and tell us what we want to hear. If our issue is with another person, we want someone else to be mad right along with us, someone who will be outraged on our behalf, someone who will not only listen as we drag our "enemy" through the coals but will … [Read more...]

I've done most of my Christmas shopping online this year, so the poor UPS and Fed-Ex guys have been making fairly regular stops.Not as many stops as they would have made in the past though, because we have cut our shopping way down this year. My sisters and I decided a few years back to forego shopping for each other and instead donate our gift money to a family in need. It has been such a blessing to us, and we hope a blessing for the family, as well.We decided to give our kids one practical … [Read more...]

Everybody has one.Last week at She Speaks, I met a wonderful girl, Mandy Anderson, who was young enough to be my daughter and we bonded in a huge way. I think we would have anyway because I have a heart for young adult women, but Mandy and I shared a huge life event that is not always positive.That thing is Cystic Fibrosis.My youngest sister was diagnosed with this awful disease at 7 months and it has been the elephant in the room for all of us ever since. Mandy also has the disease and has … [Read more...]