Navigating life through grandparenthood, chronic illness, dream work, and other inspirations
“The doctor was adamant that it’s cancer, and I’ve researched it. If it is, it’s not good.” Weeks of repressed fear gush forward, and I find myself crying, mid restaurant, my husband seated across from me. “We just don’t know yet.” he responds softly, taking my hand. “We’ll deal it with one step at a […]
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Ric, ever the supporter of my artistic endeavours, has purchased me a new app for the iPad – Procreate. There is so much to learn and I am feeling a bit like a kindergarten student – having to go back to the beginning and start again, but it is a lot of fun. And time […]
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The first time Ric cooked dinner for me, he pulled out a tall, slender stainless steel pot with a glass lid and a basket inside. I’d never seen anything like it. “What is that?” “An asparagus pot!” I haven’t stopped teasing him about it, being the pragmatic woman that I am. I would soon discover […]
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Our next door neighbour confides that he has two weeks to a month to a live. “You’ll be seeing lots of my daughter around,” he says with his customary big grin. I take his frail hand in mine and offer condolences. “I’m not afraid of dying; it’s what happens leading up to that moment that […]
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“Compassion becomes real when we recognizeour shared humanity.” – Pema Chödrön. As a young woman, I braced myself against the world by adhering to black and whites – a judgmental stance that was not conducive to relationship building. More self-protective than self-righteous, this attitude only served as a wall, confining me to loneliness. Then in […]
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“Shouldn’t be long,” I tell Ric before passing through into the rows of examining rooms. The receptionist who called yesterday, saying there was a cancellation, suggested this was just a consult and preliminary examination. My health has been declining since long before we returned home. The thing about having a chronic illness is that it […]
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Don’t know about you, but I read each post with a slightly different eye this week, looking for one that provoked a response. Many did, but none more than Tina Stewart’s Brakebill’s post: Already Lost. Early in my teaching career, I had a troubled student, who was assigned to three out of four classes with […]
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