Category Inspirational

FMM 4 9 2021 Tracing the Trajectory

“Obstacles, of course, are developmentally necessary: they teach kids strategy, patience, critical thinking, resilience and resourcefulness.” ~ Naomi Wolf. One of the challenges for the teacher of any subject, is trying to show how the topic is relevant, necessary, and worth learning.  Most of us went through high school wondering ‘when am I ever going […]

FMM 4 2 2021 April Airs Abroad

“What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined – to strengthen each other – to be at one with each other in silent unspeakable memories.” ~ George Eliot. My four children were born in Miami.  For the first part of their lives, Florida was all they knew. […]

FMM 3 25 2021 Mean to Me

“The business of business is relationships; the business of life is human connection.” ~ Robin S. Sharma. I was already halfway through a nostalgia-filled weekend when I heard the news.  I had been following up on family connections having found a website that gives access to birth, marriage and death certificates, and was tracing long […]

FMM 3 12 21 Will it go round in Circles?

“The longer one is alone, the easier it is to hear the song of the earth.” ~ Robert Anton Wilson. Every once in a while I will hear someone singing a song and say “Oh, that’s what that line says?” I’m sure it has happened to you too.  There used to be a segment on […]

FMM 3 5 2021 Threats and Opportunities

“An awareness of one’s mortality can lead you to wake up and live an authentic, meaningful life.” ~ Bernie Siegel. I can’t say that I loved Physics when I was in high school.  I was amused by one of our teachers who demonstrated the movement of molecules and how it changed as they got heated […]

FMM 2 26 21 Tugging at my Band-width

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” ~ George Bernard Shaw. I have some memories from early childhood that I am not sure if they are actual memories.  I once heard that the only true memory is the first time you recall something.  After that, you are […]

FMM 2 19 2021 A Layered Life

“My legacy is that I stayed on course… from the beginning to the end, because I believed in something inside of me.” ~ Tina Turner. I do not bake.  Not that I haven’t tried, I have, but like many perfectionists who are also blessed with impatience, when I did not get the expected results on […]

FMM 2 12 2021 Outspeaking

“All advocacy is, at its core, an exercise in empathy.” ~ Samantha Power. When I was a young working mother of four young children, I did what many other nurses did who had similar responsibilities, I worked nights and weekends.  It didn’t give you much of a social life, but it maximized your earning power […]

FMM 2 5 21 Sometimes you’re the Bug

“We live in a time when science is validating what humans have known throughout the ages: that compassion is not a luxury; it is a necessity for our well-being, resilience, and survival.” ~ Joan Halifax. Full disclosure: I never learned the trick of being able to handle being teased as a child.  I may have […]

FMM 1 29 21 Hey, Cousin!

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.” ~ Dalai Lama. As a young child, I was used to family get-togethers surrounded by cousins.  On my father’s side I had nine cousins, and on my mother’s side I had 7, and when you added either of those to the five kids […]