Category: Blog

I celebrate Valentine’s Day gleefully and joyously – but not because of love, romance and flowers. I celebrate this day as a day of reclaiming myself and revitalizing my spirit – of  freeing myself from a continual and long period of self-destruction and dysfunction – mired in a toxic relationship. Eight years ago today – Continue reading

Valentine’s Day is upon us. And according to a fun fact gleaned from the Internet, most of those perky red cards splashed with hearts are not sent to lovers, but to teachers, children and mothers. However, when I think of Valentine’s Day, I don’t think of a bespectacled professor, an adorable towheaded toddler or a patient, kind Continue reading

I don’t follow sports avidly, but Kobe Bryant was and is a household name – and his untimely death and that of his daughter’s and the other passengers on that ill-fated helicopter ride – are cruel reminders of life’s capricious nature. I recently downloaded the app Calm. This app guides you in meditation, offers an Continue reading

2AM:  I’m too riled up to sleep. I toss and turn, but drowsiness evades me as my mind continues to race. I go over the events of the last couple of months – replaying conversations with each of my five sons and my three daughters-in-law. Vividly re-living each interaction with every one of my six Continue reading

Ever committed to something with a mixed sense of dread and wild anticipation? When my first grandchild was born, my son made the following observation on vulnerability and parenting: it’s like throwing your heart out the window – into a highly trafficked street – and hoping it successfully dodges all the cars. Tee hee. I Continue reading

Want to rile people up? Ask them how they would feel about having a physic reading? Here’s some highly censored reactions – edited for good taste:      I’d be freaked out      I’d be too afraid      Creeps me out      No possible way So when a certain gut feeling urges me to get one, Continue reading

Sometimes, less is more. I’m sure you all get that. Hence the brevity of this week’s newsletter. Our family has two milestone events this week. The first one occurred just 11 hours shy of the new decade. Our youngest son and daughter-in-law gave birth to an adorable baby girl on December 31st. Our oldest granddaughter Continue reading

It may seem a rather negative way to kick-off a New Year’s column, but let’s face it, big bad stuff happens: A teen-age daughter develops Tourette’s     A toddler begins stuttering     A beloved relative passes away     A spouse cheats     A career ends in infamy     A home Continue reading

Who wants to plow through paragraph after paragraph about a first-time staged reading of a play based on a self-published book  – being “performed” in a small, nondescript theatre far from Hollywood’s glittering glamour? Oh well – here goes: Setting: 6pm on a cloudy evening in a 46-seat theatre on Victory Blvd., Burbank, California. Program: Continue reading

Thanksgiving fell on November 28 – pretty late this year. The outcome: not only six less days to squeeze in holiday shopping, but six less days for organizing and executing in-home parties and hosting get-togethers. We can’t speed-up Amazon deliveries even though ordering extra early helps. But we can streamline our entertaining routines. Below is Continue reading