Drowning in minutiae? Longing to embrace a life less harnessed to your To-Do List? Read on…. Every three months a super glossy magazine comes out called “Where Women Create – Inspiring Work Spaces of Extraordinary Women.” Published by Stampington &Company’s Somerset Studio, it’s a delight to the senses – filled with feature articles on women Continue reading
Author: Iris Ruth Pastor
When the Unspeakable Happens Again
As April 15 approaches, I run the same column I do every year in memory of the very best friend I ever had. This year I’m running my letter to her in shortened form because there is an update… Dear Andrea, On April 15, 2026, it will be fifty-one years since I’ve seen you. No one knows Continue reading
It’s Always the Same Routine…Until It Isn’t
It’s always the same routine: Why?Because for so many years, whenever I returned home, my parents waited eagerly at the top of that same escalator for the first glance of me, their eldest child, returning home. It is an unusually warm, balmy night for the month of March in Ohio. I pull-up to snap a Continue reading
Who in the Hell Can You Trust?
I’ve been scammed and it’s a harrowing experience. Once scammed, the experience stays with you – like a nagging tooth ache that continuously sears through your consciousness. Nagging questions keep me up at night: Falling into my inbox is an alert from “UPS” signalling an undeliverable package. SCAM. Popping up on my cell phone is Continue reading
A Life Lesson from a Dozen Red Roses
The whole saga starts on a routine run to my favorite local thrift shop on “Senior Citizen Discount Day”. Haphazardly displayed behind leftover Christmas ornaments, I spot this totally funky vase and buy it on the spot I make a promise to myself to fill it with deep red blood-colored roses. I intuitively know it Continue reading
My Second Happy Place
Confession: I don’t like football. Well, that’s not entirely true. I have nothing against football except its violence and a player’s proclivity to serious injury. And the fact that I still don’t totally understand it – even after having raised five sons who all seem to grasp the finer points of the game. But, I Continue reading
An Unusual Way to Get Close to my Granddaughter
My son and his 15-year-old daughtercame to visit my husband and me.And when they left 3 words did I feel:Blessed. Grateful. And Lonely. I wanted to keep a piece of my granddaughterclose – with easy access.So I asked her for her favorite song playlist.And hit upon great success. Why? I could understand the singers’ words –relate to Continue reading
How An 87-Page Book Upended My Life
I found my first cousin Jack from a DNA search and my life has never been the same since that moment in time. Jack is my late mother’s first cousin. His mother and my grandmother were sisters. I lost my very beloved grandmother 71 years ago when I was just seven years old. Finding Jack Continue reading
New Information on Someone Long Gone
It started on Monday night, February 16th. Up pops a message from one of my elementary school buddies – one with whom I keep in loose, but regular, contact. “Look at the treasure I just found!” she texted. Directly underneath her brief text was this picture: My mother is on the far left and I am on Continue reading
The Good Old Days
I called it the “Good Old Days”. I was referring to the time in my life when my parents and in-laws and various other relatives were still alive and well and my kids were still at home. It seemed to go on forever – those exhausting periods of parenting when there was too much to do, Continue reading