Archive for May 2016

Lessons in facing death and grieving with energy and intention: A book

My doctor friend told me, with urgency, to read this book. We trade book recommendations and I always leave her company with a sticky note filled with new titles. She is unafraid to look disease in the face, and  the same with death, so her favorites tend to be raw and disturbing, which is right... Read more »
By Ms. Crankypants,
May 31, 2016 at 7:11 am • 

If I'd known then what I know now, I would not have said Yes so much

I am a recovering chronic yes-sayer. It started in my first professional job as a counselor in a mental health center. In the six years I worked there, I’m pretty sure I never said No, not even once. Could I help start a “battered women’s” shelter? Absolutely. How about a halfway house for alcoholic women?... Read more »
By Ms. Crankypants,
May 25, 2016 at 10:08 pm • 

Ron Magers is leaving me…I mean us

They are dropping like flies, the people I count on: First my doctor, then my minister, and Jon Stewart, then my other doctor (Note to David Letterman: you could have made this list if not for your unfortunate proclivities), retiring and leaving me in the lurch. Oh, I get it – you’ve made your 30... Read more »
By Ms. Crankypants,
May 25, 2016 at 1:54 pm • 
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If you are grieving today… for your pet

Elizabeth was losing her constant companion, running buddy, the protector who saved her from a late-night assault, the one who got her through an unwanted divorce, the one constant in 15 years of life changes. He was dying, and there was no one else to care for him. Besides, she needed to be the one... Read more »
By Ms. Crankypants,
May 23, 2016 at 1:25 pm • 

Mother's Day the Old Way: A peace holiday

Quick: what are the first five words that come to mind when you hear Mother’s Day? Hallmark? Brunch? Breakfast-in-bed? Flowers? Chocolate? The originators would be sorry to hear that. It seems that Mother’s Day was founded in two steps, 37 years apart. In 1870, Julia Ward Howe (author of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” in... Read more »
By Ms. Crankypants,
May 8, 2016 at 12:36 am •