Magical Memoir Moments

Do You Say, "Have a Nice Day"? If Not, Why Not?

When you part from someone, do you have a favorite farewell blessing to utter? Other languages, French, German, and Spanish, for example, have much more graceful words than the English “Good-Bye” or “So long!” Witness this song written for English speakers about a famous multi-lingual Austrian family: In America, in the decade that followed The…

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Recovering Joy in A Good Day: The Woman in the Photograph

What if the only clue you had to your mother’s past was a photo taken before you were born — when she was young, carefree, and beautiful? What if it looked like this:How would you feel, upon waking up in the morning, if the day stretched out before you had no clear architecture from the…

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Always Returning: Prairie Wisdom for Breathing in a Good Day Every Day

So what if the day you are having doesn’t seem like A Good Day? No day can be Good all the time! I’ve learned much Prairie Wisdom from my friend Daisy Hickman, author of Always Returning: The Wisdom of Place. I have her book on my table TBR (to be read) soon! I hope you’ll…

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Owen and Julia and the Amazing, Excellent, Superb, Splendid, Very Good Day

I’ve been on a quest lately to deepen my understanding of what it’s like to have a good day. We all know about Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day but what about the Amazing, Excellent, Superb, Splendid, Very Good Day? So I went to two experts: grandson Owen, age 3, and…

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Eggs Benedict at The Bishop's Hall

In Praise of Breakfast: Starting Three Good Days at The Bishop’s Hall

What’s your favorite meal? In the morning, at least, mine is breakfast. 🙂 And my last three breakfasts have started a good day with a bang. Here’s the table setting: Along with my two “Pilgrim Sister” friends, I enjoyed the hospitality at The Bishop’s Hall at our annual meeting, this time in Oak Park, Illinois….

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Every Day Is All There Is: Defining a Good Day

Have you ever found yourself thinking about a subject and then discovered that lots of other people are doing the same? For me that topic is: what is a good day? Joan Didion’s words “Every day is all there is” came into my life via my daughter Kate’s business partner, Emily Levenson. She’s the one…

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A Good Day–Even When Not All of It Is Good

Dr. Joel Elkes, whose 95th birthday was celebrated in a previous post, believes that a good life is built one good day at a time.  As a pioneer in the field of psychopharmacology, he might be expected to focus on drugs that help us cope with life’s challenges.  However, he is much more interested in…

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