Another friend down. Darn it! Too many of my childhood friends have passed at a very young age, leaving the rest of our group to cope in a world without them. This is just another sappy reminder to look at your loved ones – I mean, REALLY look at who they are. Try and focus on the things about them that touch your heart, and just roll your eyes to the things that aren’t their best. This way, you’ll embrace them each day as if you were already missing them. I know it’s hard to do, but if we seek […]

I used to be so nice. And Demur. Submissive. A Follower. What happened? Life created an animal in me. I am second generation Italian. It’s in the genes and the unwritten manual that females should behave as children: something to be seen and not heard. God forbid the poor girl who thinks her opinion matters! That heralds in the old adage: Males who do are viewed as strong and intelligent, and females as aggressive and arrogant. I went along with those unspoken rules until I became a woman and found that being nice still got me a slap upside the […]

What Easter dessert looks like to empty-nester (read: abandoned) parents! Yogurt and fruit. Meh dessert, meh kids.

Some things are so sad. I didn’t know Willis Hossler, except through Facebook. I can’t remember how we found each other. All I know is that he responded in the most beautiful way to some of my posts – and they actually helped so much, particularly as I was grieving my sister’s death – and now he is gone. I didn’t even know he was ill. #BeNice! is more important than ever, because you just never know what someone is going through. Here are some of his responses. You aren’t required to have guilt over loving someone enough to try […]

“No problem.” That is the response I received at the gym this morning, when I thanked the front desk staff for the sauna being hot today. This is a ridiculously small thing to complain about, but I think the words she was searching for was, “my pleasure.” Manners. They go a long way in keeping brethren kind to each other. The photo: me in London (2006), making my daily check-in call to my newly widowed mother. For some reason, Funk loves when I talk on the phone (probably because I’m not harassing him), and so he snapped this frame on […]

Chinese parents are better at raising kids than Western ones? That’s how Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother was supposed to start. Based on that, I wouldn’t have picked it up – it seemed that insulting! But Funk insisted I’d love it, and I’m glad. The memoir evolved into a story of self-discovery. Ms. Chua had a similar experience as I did with the media. No one can believe how corrupt the medium is unless they’ve been touched by it. My experience with twisted words came during my husband’s time in the mayor’s office, and hers about beliefs […]