Growing with gratitude for life's challenges
“How do you feel about everything that is happening?” my therapist asked me, last visit. “Good,” I responded, without hesitation. “I feel as if I’m breaking down barriers: embracing life and possibility, despite my illness.” Yesterday, I promised to rest, but there were boxes in the way, and nowhere to sit, so I unpacked one, […]
Read MoreThe house creaks and cracks with such ferociousness, I am unable to sleep. Perhaps it does not like the starkness of bare walls, the absence of furniture, the finality of boxes stacked and sealed. It is my last night here – just myself, a king sized bed and a complaining house. So much has changed […]
Read MoreI write poetry. I play with images conjured up while sleeping, until a message appears. (I describe this process in an earlier post: Composing Poetry. ) I’ve noticed that the dreams, and consequently the poems, will follow a particular theme, and I thought it might be interesting to introduce the poems of a series to one […]
Read More“Was I right about the doctor?” the middle-aged receptionist asked cheerfully as I emerged from the examination room and waited for my next appointment. “He’s very good,” I agreed. I had hesitated to see one more specialist after a history of dead ends trying to get a diagnosis for what was clearly something wrong with […]
Read MoreThe floor reached out for me, pulling me down with alarming force. I fought to remain upright, waves of nausea weakening my resolve. One hand flew to my brow – now a pool of sweat – while the other searched for the phone. I’m calling 9-1-1, I texted my husband. “Stay with us, V.J.!” the […]
Read MoreA baby dies and the mother is found guilty and imprisoned. It is a heart-wrenching scenario, and begs the question: what happens to the family who have been torn apart by such tragedy? In With Love From the Inside, author Angela Pisel attempts to answer that question through the viewpoint of the mother, and the […]
Read MoreOriginally posted on One Woman's Quest:
I was forty before I could finally ask my mother about her constant criticism of me growing up. We were alone together, in the car, driving out of town. I had her undivided attention. “Help me to understand, something,” I prefaced the conversation. “When I was young, you…
“What’s the worst that can happen?” Mom likes to muse. “If you can handle that, you can handle anything.” When a marriage of seventeen years fell apart, Mom said: “There is always Welfare.” I didn’t want to accept the ‘worst’ for my life, and so I fought to stay afloat, and rather than succumb to […]
Read MoreThe house is sold. We have less than thirty days to clear out, which considering we are moving into our motor home, means to get rid of everything. It’s a year ahead of schedule, I admit, but given the hot real estate market, I agreed to list the house for a month and see if […]
Read MoreThe riddle closes in. I can hear its heavy footsteps, echoing in my ears. The dark brings out that which the day hides. (Excerpt from Beautiful Affliction) Lene Fogelberg knows what it is like to live with an undiagnosed medical condition and to be turned away time and again from doctors. In Beautiful Affliction she […]
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One Woman's Quest II 