It was a desperate time. My husband was in the cardiac intensive care unit of a Toronto hospital, fighting for his life. His heart was large and floppy and not doing what hearts should do. He was on the list for a heart transplant, and various methods were being used to get him through each […]

Have you ever gone somewhere where you didn’t know a single person? For an introvert like myself, that’s a stretching experience that leaves me feeling exhausted. My first writer’s conference, I flew into a huge city alone, and found my way to the shuttle bus at the airport. The hotel was overpowering, with moving sidewalks

I first went to camp when I was 12, and it changed me. I discovered this suburban girl had a country heart, and was totally at home in the woods, by the lake and near a campfire. I lived in a cabin with seven other girls, and they became my best friends and confidants over

What makes life worth living?(If you answered “coffee in the morning” I’m with you on that, but we’re going a little deeper here.)What are the essential elements that make you feel complete, fulfilled, contented, whole? Do you need to have full mental capacity to have quality of life? Does it disappear after a certain age?The

I remember the day I brought my eldest daughter home from the hospital. All I’d ever wanted was to be a mother, and now I was, and I was terrified. My husband had to work that first night, and I was totally responsible for this little person. What if, what if, what if played through

Claudia sharing a hug with one of our residents, Jean —a guest post by Claudia Osmond. Thank you, Claudia, for helping me celebrate my 200th blog post! Have you ever felt insulted by someone saying these kinds of things to you: “You haven’t changed a bit!” “Twenty-nine and counting…” “There’s no way you have a

Last week would have been my 39th anniversary if my husband had lived. Every year on August the twentieth, I think about him and us and life as it was. This time I remembered that shy twenty-three year old who wore the dress her sister made and daisies in her hair. Her veil was long

I heard something on the radio today that disturbed me. The announcer was talking about a famous person who had recently died of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease.) He said that ALS and and Alzheimer’s are alike in that they steal the person away. ALS steals the body and Alzheimer’s steals the mind. Like a sliver

There’s a lot of fear involved in aging. I hear the fear of Alzheimer’s every day.I searched the house for my reading glasses and found them on my head. I’ve lost my keys three times this week. I knew that person so well, but do you think I could remember her name?Then there is the classic, I

Today I celebrated the long awaited “princess party” with my granddaughter, Hannah, and although we both agreed it was a bit low key, the day was fabulous. The Superheroes and Princess Party was put on by our community in the centre of the village. I wasn’t sure, at nine, if Hannah would still enjoy something