Growing with gratitude for life's challenges
When illness struck our household it knocked over our bucket list, spilling much of the content into the drain. We were like bystanders at a train wreck: watching our lives spiral out of control, desperately trying to sift through the rubble to find signs of survival. Depression, anger, and grief were just some of the […]
Read More“You’re the only help I have right now, Mom! I just feel like I’m not a priority for you.” “When you spend all your energy on the kids, I feel as if there is never any left over for me. I just get the dregs.” “It would be really nice if you could spend some […]
Read More“If twenty percent of couples are affected by infidelity, then who do you think that might be in our circle of friends?” It was a favourite game my former husband and I played after leaving our monthly get-together with the other moms and dads from our son’s preschool class. “Well out of ten couples that […]
Read MoreI’m obsessed with the television reality show: Married At First Sight. The show promotes itself as a social experiment: over 30,000 singles apply to have experts find them a suitable spouse, out of which, six are chosen. It’s a bit like coming across a car accident, and not being able to tear your eyes away; […]
Read More“Are you guys brother and sister?” the question came from our soon-to-be five-year-old granddaughter. Dropped off by her mother for an overnight stay, we had a day of cousins and uncles and aunts, and of course, Grandma and Grandpa. I brushed off her comment with a: “No, we’re married”, but the innocent observation shook me. […]
Read MoreA week after my husband completed thirty-five rounds of radiation for Stage III Prostate cancer, and a year to the date that I learned surgery to remove cancerous tissues from my breast was successful, Ric fell down a flight of steps rupturing his quad tendon. Ten weeks after surgery, he would fall again, causing further […]
Read MoreA secret: I had to teach myself how to receive love. Born fifth of my mother’s six children, I was unexpected – an ill-advised accident, given the difficulties my mother had in previous child births. Conceived during a tumultuous time – after the father of her first children abandoned her, beaten and penniless – I […]
Read MoreI dream that Ric has removed our dining table. There has been no discussion, no explanation, just an empty space to mark his actions. Even in my dreams, I am asking questions: Is he having it repaired, or replacing it? Surely, not replacing, I think, as the table was his mother’s. I conclude that all […]
Read More“How will we cope when you get out of hospital?” I asked my husband during his week-long stay on the Cardiac ward awaiting surgery. “Let me figure that out,” he promised. “There’s plenty of time to worry about that.” I asked him again just prior to surgery, picturing a frail man returning home, and me, […]
Read MoreWhile my husband remains in the Cardiac Surgery Recovery Unit (CSRU), I am struggling to maintain some sort of equilibrium so that my own health (ME/CFS) does not worsen. It is a tightrope walk, for sure. The day of surgery, I went to the hospital twice, both for extended periods of time. When I woke […]
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One Woman's Quest II 