“Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.” ~ George Edward Woodberry. In the middle of a busy day recently, I took a phone call from a long-time friend.  As has become my very bad habit, I listened with half an ear as I tried to continue reviewing […]

“My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.”~Dalai Lama. I am a nurse first. When I think of the roles I play in life, I know in my heart that my passion is nursing. One of the many wonderful things about being a nurse is that it encompasses many job descriptions. For the past […]

“There is beauty and humility in imperfection.” ~ Guillermo del Toro. One of the goals of parenthood is that your children ‘have manners’.  Do they behave when in the company of others, remembering to ‘please’, ‘thank you’, and ‘excuse me’ appropriately? There is nothing will let you down in the sight of your friends and […]

“I would like to be remembered as someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Sometimes I am the last person to follow my own advice. When I graduated from nursing school many years ago, I was greeted at the end […]

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” ~ Albert Einstein. My father-in-law was a special man.  He was famous in his district for being a straight shooter, he called things as he saw them.  If you knew you had done something wrong, or foolish, you avoided him, for he didn’t joke to point it out.  He […]

“What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know.” ~ Saint Augustine. It was impossible this week not to feel nostalgic and emotional. Yesterday marked 100 years since the birth of my father. It was a […]

“Like clouds and winds without rain    is the man who brags        about gifts he never gave.” ~ Proverbs 25: 14. I have always been attracted to things that are a little quirky, off center, not the norm.  I blame my father, he was the one who taught me to see life from a slanted perspective, recognizing that […]

FMM 8 28 2020 Crystal Vision “I’m gonna put on an iron shirt and chase Satan out of earth.” ~ Maxi Romeo. If you grew up in a Christian household like I did, you were discouraged from believing, or even showing an interest in things like astrology.  There was something pagan and sacrilegious about it.  […]

“Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.” ~ James Baldwin. My mother was a talker.  Later in life we surmised that her childhood may have been difficult, parents who sometimes didn’t speak to each other for months, so perhaps the children developed the […]

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh.   I wonder when it was that man first saw an animal as a pet, rather than as a work partner, a tool extender.  I remember hearing that it wasn’t until […]