Author Archives: bethpow06

FMM 12 25 15 YDHTBP

“You can’t always get what you want…. but you just might find, you get what you need”~ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. My mother invented text speak.  Way before there were mobile phones she used innovation and efficiency to create her own set of shorthand terms, ways to get more words into a small space. […]

FMM 12 18 15 In Praise of Life

“Though lovers be lost love shall not, And death shall have no dominion.”~Dylan Thomas.   Death is a funny thing.  It sharpens the senses like a shower of rain clears the air.  Memories once distant come close.  As a drop of dew on a leaf brings the colors and veins into acute focus, it can […]

FMM 12 11 15 Balancing Act

“Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony”~ Thomas Merton.  In case you didn’t know, with or without your help, your body always strives for balance.  There is even a word for it: homeostasis.  It is the drive to keep things in check, to correct what life, illness, and […]

FMM 12 4 15 Life Goes On

“A woman is like a tea-bag: you don’t know how strong she is  until you put her in hot water” ~Eleanor Roosevelt.  One day recently my mother wondered out loud: “How did I get such strong daughters?”   I am not sure what had prompted this comment, but I could only reply: “Look who raised us!”  […]

FMM 11 27 15 In Remembrance

Written to me and for me by my son, the morning after my mother (age 92) died. An ounce of belief outweighs a world of knowledge. This is my letter to encourage you today, the same way you have encouraged me even as you may have your own questions about my decisions. I know writing […]

FMM 11 20 15 The Greatest is Love

“Love’s in need of love today” ~Stevie Wonder.  Life is an act of faith.  It is also fragile.  Each morning when we wake up, we go out into the world fully expecting to return safe and sound, even though (if we watch the news) we know there are so many things that could go wrong.  […]

FMM 11 13 15 Degrees of Freedom

“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but our self can free our mind. ”Marcus Garvey.   Going back to school brings with it a host of challenges, one of which is a subject known as statistics.  The good news is, they don’t expect you to know formulae any more, and there are programs that run […]

FMM 11 6 15 Depolarization

“Positive anything is better than negative nothing” Elbert Hubbard. In order to teach a concept, you first have to understand it.  I must confess there are things that happen at the cellular level in our body that I never had to learn in school.  The English hospital based nursing program I attended over forty (shhh, […]

FMM 10 30 15 Skin Deep

“Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible.” ~ Maya Angelou.  We are all guilty of snap judgments, of using a first impression to rush to a conclusions.  As a writer, my first sentence must entice, must draw you in, or you will quickly move on.  For […]

FMM 10 23 15 Learning from failure

“Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear, I rise…” ~Maya Angelou Nursing school is hard.  It’s supposed to be.  The amount of information you need to obtain; the skills that you must develop; the understanding of the human body in sickness and in health that you have to grasp; it is not for the faint-hearted.  Then […]