My Dad and I Today I want to unpack the “Nothing Bad Between Us” part of my book title. In earlier posts, I’ve described the scene with my father, when we both said those words to each other in our native Low German…
My father and I hurt one another. Deeply. He was an angry disciplinarian. I was a horribly rebellious child. You can imagine the rest. Fortunately, we found mutual forgiveness several decades before he died — for ourselves and for each other. “Doa ess nuscht…
My Sister Mary Lou and I – She’s the Cute Little Curly-Haired Blond I’m pleased to bring you the thinking of Mary Lou Bonham, a psychotherapist who also happens to be my sister. She and…
August 26, 1943 – my dad on the left and my mom on the right – the day after their wedding, at the Newton, Kansas train depot, on their way to Paraguay, South America. Little did they know, on that day, what the map…
My Mother, Gazing at her Youth It seems the invisibility curse of the elderly is especially harsh on women. A recent article by Ann Brenoff in AARP pointed out that women are increasingly unseen, marginalized by the younger, and left feeling that they no longer have…
Here I am, learning to be perfect! “The opposite of joy is not sadness. It’s perfectionism.” That’s what Susie Rinehart, author of Fierce Joy said to me today when I interviewed her for my upcoming podcast season. I know all about perfectionism….