My Mom’s words come out of my mouth. Not intentionally, they just do. They are buried deep in my brain, and just comes out sometimes. Her sayings like, “Better safe than sorry.” I said it today. I was contemplating a trip to the nursery. Do I really need to go there? How will I feel […]

Toilet Paper and Acts of Kindness Toilet paper hoarding is not a new phenomenon.   A shortage was sparked in 1973 by one of my favorite comedians, Johnny Carson.  The talk show host made a joke about a shortage of toilet paper that led to hoarding and shortages across the United States. In 1973, people were […]

Valentine’s Day that we just celebrated is one of many holidays that pull at our hearts.  Special days that remind us of those we love.  For those that have lost a loved one the first of these special days without their love is often very hard.  They feel not just alone, but may have a […]

Grief Gifts The Okawville Book Club met last Sunday for our yearly post-Christmas party.  It was a wonderful afternoon of fellowship.  The book we’d read was The 13th Gift: A True Story of a Christmas Miracle, a real-life story that juxtaposes the frailty of the human spirit with how resilient it can be.  One of […]

I was shy as a child, very quiet. I found my voice as I grew and realized I liked meeting new people and finding out about them.  As I advanced in my career at Illinois Power, mine was usually the only female voice in the room, so I felt I needed to speak up and […]

This week at St. Peter’s UCC Church in Okawville Pastor Jeff’s message was about the tax collector Zacchaeus, who climbed a tree to get a better view of Jesus, to get a different perspective.  Pastor Jeff incorporated that idea of getting a different perspective into Children’s Time, when all the little ones come up for […]

Our granddaughter, Quinn, has been with Bill and I this week.  She is three and just precious, precocious, and stubborn.  Much like her mom was at that age. We went boating Tuesday and Grandpa thought it would be a good idea to take her on the tube for a ride behind the boat.  They were […]

My husband, Bill, and I are driving home from northern Illinois as I write this.  Our son and daughter in law just had a baby girl and we had the privilege of meeting her minutes after she made her entrance to this world.  She is so precious, the best blessing in life. On Sunday we […]

Ever since I attended the Washington County Health Department’s “Women’s Night Out” in January 2018, where the topic was “The Opioid Crisis in Washington County, IL”, I had the stirrings of a book on addiction and loss.  The number of deaths from opioid overdose was shocking to me, I had no idea it was impacting […]

Over the past weekend, we celebrated Father’s Day with my husband and sons and uncles and friends that are fathers.  We ate barbecue and played kickball and opened home-made gifts and gave presents to honor them.  I hope your weekend was as wonderful. In the back of my mind on the holiday, though, was my […]