Magical Memoir Moments
Take Your Mother to Work Day: Episode One
You’ve heard of Take Your Daughter to Work Day? Recently, I flipped the script and asked my daughter if she was up for Take Your Mother to Work Day. She was! But before we go to work, a story. Once upon a time there was a girl who loved to shop for clothes with her…
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…
Giving Thanks 2021: Doubling Down on Gratitude
Last year at this time was very dark. The pandemic. Both children were in hospitals miles apart. Cold weather. Fading light. A dark night of soul and body. It was very hard to see the blessings in my life when there was so much suffering. So this year, I am rejoicing twice. Once for all…
What I Learned from Julia Spicher Kasdorf’s Mother
Virginia was terribly chagrined that she forgot to bring flowers, her intended house warming present, the day we went to lunch together. I laughed and told her to surprise one of her new neighbors, since she lives 20 minutes away and she is even newer to Lancaster County retirement community living than we are. But,…
How Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, and Norbert Krapf Helped Me to Become a More Mindful Grandparent
Did you watch the Nobel Prize ceremony in 2016 when Patti Smith sang “It’s a Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” in honor of her friend Bob Dylan? If not, you need to watch it here. And if you are one of the three million people who have already watched this video, trust me, it’s worth another…
Location, Location, Location: Choosing It and then Exploring it
Q: What are the three most important things about choosing a new home? A: Location, location, location. Why did we choose Warwick Woodlands? There are, after all, dozens of other retirement communities in Lancaster County, PA. In 2018, in fact, U.S. News & World Report ranked Lancaster County as the #1 retirement destination in the…
Vintage Dress Photo Shoot at the Home Place
Several weeks after we moved to Lititz, PA, I invited my daughter Kate, granddaughter Lydia, niece Joyous, and her daughter Anna Mary to join me in exploring a pile of vintage clothing I bought in the late 1980s at my Grandpa Hess’ estate sale.The dresses had stayed in closets in Goshen, IN; Kalamazoo, MI; and…
Living a Dream: Owning A Bookstore
How many people living in a big city dream of getting away from it all, moving to a small town, and setting up a shop? How many harried professionals wish they could buy books, read books, and talk to customers every day? How many parents of young children wish they could go into a family…
One is Silver and the Other Gold: Making Friends after 70
When I was about five years old and discouraged about some relationship with another child, I asked my parents how to make a friend. My parents were both young, in their twenties, but on this subject they were wise beyond their years. “To make a friend, be a friend.” Did my mother say it, or…
Porch Culture: Where Architecture and Hospitality Meet
A few mornings ago, I stepped out my front door here in Warwick Woodlands, and there was neighbor Donna talking to neighbor Anna over the porch railing. Just the sight of them gave me a pleasant little frizzon — that “electric feeling behind the navel” that informs me that something profound is speaking to me….