I cannot believe it was 26 years ago that my wonderful Madeline Jo came into our lives.  Don and I started our marriage believing we would not have children.  Neither of us felt that paternal instinct and we felt like we wanted to create a life together that was just about he and I.  I…

Oh, I bet I caught some of your attention thinking I have a big announcement about becoming a grandparent! No, for right now my only grandchildren are my grandpuppies, Maizy and Sevvy, and can I tell you how much I love these pups.  I haven’t even met Sevvy in person yet and she has my…

On this day 24 years ago, Marah Jo Petre came into our lives and completed our family.  It was such a memorable day because these spring snow storms that we have been getting this year also happened on the day Marah was born.  On the way to the hospital it had begun to snow.  By…

This week my sister, Jackie, would have turned 61 years old.  She passed away when she was 19 years old.  One of the saddest things about losing someone so young is that there are few people who remember her, knew her, realize that it is her birthday because her time on this earth was so…

I haven’t felt this in a very long time but I truly believe that “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright”.  I am still feeling all sorts of conflicting emotions but the positive emotions are outweighing the negative.  We are probably overstaying our welcome in Denver with Maddie but I now realize that I needed this time probably…

They are born, you feed them, nurture them, teach them, watch them fall, take care of them when they are ill, cheer them on, take them on vacations, love them with your entire body and soul and then. . . .they leave you. That is really how it is supposed to go.  Parenting is defined…

So those of you living in Wisconsin, experienced as we often do in Wisconsin a dramatic temperature change this week.  On Tuesday, I was taking my first bike ride of the year–in February!!!  And then yesterday I barely could walk outside without tears in my eyes as the cold harsh wind slapped me in the…

Four years ago I thought I had a pretty good picture of what the next 5 to 10 years looked like.  Don and I were in our last years of work and had a pretty good idea what our retirement years looked like.  Both of our daughters were on the brink of starting their careers…

You may be wondering what kinds of topics I am going to write about.  I actually have a list of some topics that I have been thinking about for awhile–some light and some deep but I also want to write about things that are currently happening and that come organically to me to write about. …