Magical Memoir Moments
A Pork 'n Sauerkraut New Year: Happy Birthday, Stuart!
At our house, the holiday season begins with Christmas and ends on January 11. Why January 11? That’s my husband Stuart’s birthday. We don’t clear out the wrapping paper and bows until Jan. 12. Our serious efforts to go back to low-carb eating only starts after that date also. This year, Stuart discovered a tradition…
Separation of Church and State
The reason my family today is American and not Swiss is due to religious persecution. How to explain this? My religious ancestors left behind few words for future posterity. Felix Manz and Conrad Grebel, the earliest Anabaptists, were well-educated, ardent seekers during the early Reformation, who disputed with the leader of the Reformed movement, Ulrich…
What’s Good About Aging?
I turned 75 years old on July 30. This is the first birthday that seems undeniably like the beginning of old age — three quarters of the way to 100. Six years away from the average American female life expectancy of 81. No matter my fate, I am beginning to see the horizon and the…
Cancer and Father’s Day
It began on Thanksgiving week. It has ended, for now at least, on Father’s Day week. In between were consultations with oncologists and surgeons, surgery, proton radiation treatments, and infusions of the drug Keytruda every six weeks. And now. . . Stuart’s malignant melanoma is gone! The doctor declared him to be “cancer free.” In…
Love and Its Relation to Death
“Death destroys a man. But the idea of death saves him.” –E. F. Forster We are traveling the pilgrim’s path between love and death. Our home is filling up with emblems of beauty, hope, and care from thoughtful people who have chosen to come on pilgrimage with us. Our neighbors, family, and friends near and…
An Antidote to GrandSlump: Those Simple Little Pleasures
Perhaps you have seen this neologism from my friend Kerry Byrne: If you have grandchildren, and were lucky enough to have them all together, or even in stages, over the holidays, you know how grandslump feels. I do. After the children and grandchildren gather up their luggage and head for the car, and we have…
“YOU Do Not Have Cancer. WE Have Cancer.”
He found a lump near his ear when he was shaving. He went to the doctor right away and was referred for tests and then to an ENT specialist/surgeon. The doctors said most of these tumors are benign. But to be sure, the surgeon ordered a deep needle biopsy. On Nov. 22 we received the…
A Letter to Our Grandchildren about Peace, Courage, Love, Justice, Kindness and Loyalty
Dear reader, we are still writing the letter below to our grandchildren. They haven’t seen it yet. We invite you to pretend you are almost 12, or 10 (we chose to write to the developmental level of the older two. The younger one, age 5, will want to be right in there with them but…
My Husband’s Project: Biographical Geneaology
What do retired people do all day long? Stuart and I have been answering that question a little differently every year for the last eighteen years. Stuart retired from Goshen College in 2004. I left my last full-time position in 2010. For 28 years we both worked at Goshen College, changing jobs (I had nine…
Grandparent Day — A Day of Rejoicing and Thanksgiving
Have you ever attended a Grandparents Day event as a child or adult? Perhaps on the second Sunday in September, the “official” Grandparent Day? Or maybe you have been invited to a grandchild’s school? Our Tulsa, OK, grandchildren, ages 10 and 9, invited us to attend Grandparent Days at their school recently. We were able…