I admit it. I love to volunteer at Thanksgiving and Christmas, doing whatever — cooking, serving meals, cleaning up. Although Ed and I give money to charities year-round, it’s mostly during the holidays when I feel called to show up in person to help. And that’s exactly…
If you Google “Holiday” and “Depression,” you’d think the vast majority of us fall into a deep funk during this time of merry celebration: Holiday Anxiety and Depression: Click for Survival Tips Holiday Depression: How to Beat the Holiday Blues this Christmas 11 Tips for Avoiding Holiday Depression Triggers It…
Our Token Holiday Decorations The winter holiday season used to be an exciting time of the year for me, filled with festive parties and happy social gatherings with my family and friends. I remember the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg. The delighted sounds of my children’s…
Three piles: One pile of stuff we think our kids would love to have. One pile of things we think we can sell. And the little pile of things we’ll take with us to our new small townhouse in Eugene. Ed and I are downsizing. It’s too much work to…
(He gave me permission to write this.) I married Ed almost a quarter of a century ago. I married him, knowing there were things about him that would always bother me. Like that he wasn’t into international travel (I love to travel). His only experiences outside…
I’m back in Paraguay, the land of my childhood. I first came here as a baby many years ago, when my parents founded a leprosy station that I called home. Alone, I make my way along a dirt road toward our house, a red and…