Daily Life

We recently gave up our landline. We had that phone number for many years, since the kids were little. It was sad to see it go—but somewhat liberating.  I resisted parting with our landline for years. My reasoning was that in an emergency (especially a catastrophic one), our cellphones might not work.  I kept a…

How do young kids learn to call 911? A long, long time ago, a child could simply run to a phone wired into the wall, pick up the receiver, hear a tone, and dial (either push button or rotary). The good old landline. When my husband and I got rid of our landline a few weeks ago,…

Residents slump over wheelchair armrests in the overly air-conditioned “living room.” The television blasts a folk tune hijacked for a diabetes drug. Off to the right and left, like airport runways, lights over patient rooms flank the corridors, because the staff has turned off the call bells. A woman alone in her room cries, “Help…

Last week, I attended a performance of Rent’s 20th Anniversary Tour. The musical follows a year in the lives of several artists, some of whom are afflicted with HIV/AIDS. In 1996, the future was grim for those who had the disease. Over the years I’ve seen Rent on Broadway, on tour, and on the big screen. Reflecting on the passage…

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised the level of human creativity. Autopilot no longer works and we continually have to find new ways to do old things. Take bridal showers, for example. Here you’ll learn how to plan and execute a memorable event during a pandemic. This is a hybrid model, both socially distanced for the…

If only I could go back and hand this girl the list. . .

A few months ago, I fell while running and broke my dominant wrist. The radius was in many pieces, but it somehow managed to stay intact. My surgeon decided to watch and wait, but four weeks later, even I could see on the X-ray that the bone was splitting lengthwise. It was time for surgery. This meant…

The other morning, to occupy myself during the mind-numbing task of lunch packing, I tuned my SiriusXM app to The Catholic Channel and then, EWTN, because my usual morning program was taking a break. As a “Cradle Catholic,” I was surprised to hear on “Morning Glory” that it is not proper to decorate for Christmas until Christmas Eve, rather than right…

Recently I was contacted by Julissa Arangure, community-outreach professional at Shari’s Berries. She had seen that I completed the 100 Happy Days challenge. Julissa wanted to share a blog post on that ran on their site called, “50 Ways to Cheer Someone Up When They Need a Smile.” She thought I might like to share the post with my…

Twice a year, in the United States and many other parts of the world, we observe a ritual of changing the clocks on our walls, microwaves, and stoves, one hour backward or forward. Thankfully, our cell phones and computers figure out these shifts on their own. Here are seven bits about Daylight Saving Time that…