Breaking Open

October 15, 2025.Reading time 3 minutes.

I’ve started a second TikTok account just for the exploration of dreams. (@DreamCrone). It had 600 followers and lively discussion up until 2 weeks ago. Then I decided to lead my followers through an exercise examining the power of symbolism. I used my dream as an example. The exercise requires telling the dream aloud, using […]

Familial Snags

August 9, 2023.Reading time 4 minutes.

Days before she turned 65, Mom confessed that she suspected she had cancer. “I’m thinking about just letting it take me,” she said. There were many things I wanted to say in that moment, such as: You should be discussing this with a therapist and not your daughter, but; this was the nature of our […]

Caring Lessons: A Review

January 5, 2021.Reading time 2 minutes.

I ordered Lois Hoitenga Roelofs’ book, Caring Lessons: A Nursing Professor’s Journey of Faith and Self, after having been a fan of her blog for several years. Lois writes with candour about her life challenges, and on the blog in particular, about her journey through her husband’s terminal cancer. It is the candour with which […]

The Mystery Cousin

September 30, 2020.Reading time 3 minutes.

The boy at the door was tall and slim, and although I had no idea who he was, he said: “You must be V.J.!” A whoosh of Mom’s skirt obliterated my response. She was hugging and kissing him and exclaiming: “Oh my! Can’t believe it is you!” Then my sisters were there, crowding our small […]

Bedside Conversations

January 8, 2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

“Mom, I want you to know that I don’t harbour any ill will toward our past. If I seek to know what happened, it is only to understand myself so that I might heal.” Mom nods, considers my words. “There is so much I could have done differently.” “No. You did what you could with […]

Monday Mood: Stretched too far

Saturday we packed up the garage (with help). Dusty, dirty, and exhausting. Sunday we attended and then hosted a farewell party for our Ukrainian roommate, who is going back to Ukraine despite all our protests. Yes, two separate gatherings. Heart wrenching. This morning, we visited our new apartment building to get set up with a […]

Let Me Sleep

Like an orphaned treeshivering in a coat of frost my soul wandersdreamless, alone a nobody, nowherein the pre-dawn chill. Beckoned by first lightbody twisting wakens Consciousness clingsto desolate slumber then, reluctantlyreality brings me home. (Image my own)