Iris Ruth Pastor

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The Danger of Faulty Assumptions

August 9, 2024August 9, 2024 Iris Ruth Pastor

Faulty assumptions are mistaken or misleading suppositions. Now I DO have assumptions about grand-parenting that have proven to be very true: Regularly doling out unsolicited advice to your adult children on rearing their children is probably not a great idea. Ditto for hovering like a helicopter.   Another assumption: The only way to truly have fun and get super Continue reading

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It Was a Bad Week

August 2, 2024August 2, 2024 Iris Ruth Pastor

It was certainly a bad week. Not just for me, but for my poor mouth.Massive infectionFractured tooth needing to be extracted in pieces (OUCH!)A complicated root canal procedureAnd lots of ice packs I was away from my husband.I was bouncing between two of my adult kids’ houses. I was in a lot of unremitting physical pain.I Continue reading

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Change: Illusive or Real?

July 26, 2024July 25, 2024 Iris Ruth Pastor

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, butshorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints; we spend more,but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less. We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but lesstime; we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but lessjudgment; more experts, but Continue reading

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Acts of Charity Add Sparkle to the World

July 19, 2024July 16, 2024 Iris Ruth Pastor

Her name is Nicole, she is 40 years-old and I met her at a Dress for Success luncheon where my son Sam was getting an award. In between food courses and short speeches, we chatted.   Nicole was an “army brat” whose father was in the military. The family moved constantly until Nicole was a sophomore Continue reading

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Joy in the Morning

July 12, 2024July 12, 2024 Iris Ruth Pastor

It was the first thing I saw when I walked into my kitchen early that morning.  Alone on the kitchen counter, a notebook-sized piece of paper caught my eye. It was an informal, hastily drawn chart I had made for myself the evening before so I could remember to take my newly prescribed meds for Continue reading

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Please Weigh In Because I know This Has Happened To You…

July 5, 2024July 5, 2024 Iris Ruth Pastor

If you’re like every other female past the age of four on this planet, you’ve run into a friendship dilemma or two in your life. It happens to all of us because female friendship can be fraught with twists and turns that can be very tricky to navigate! Although we’ve all had to face friendship Continue reading

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My Husband’s Short-Lived Baseball Career

June 28, 2024June 28, 2024 Iris Ruth Pastor

I know there are certain things I’m not rational about and one of them is my husband playing baseball. It all started when we were dating. He was playing baseball after work. I was spending quality time with my two young sons after work.  I never got to see him play baseball.  After we got married, Continue reading

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Are You A Risk Taker?

June 21, 2024June 21, 2024 Iris Ruth Pastor

Are you a risk taker? A risk taker is defined as someone who is bold, decisive, confident, courageous, creative, innovative and comfortable with uncertainty. I don’t know if I am a risk taker. I think I am more likely to be defined as someone who doesn’t think things through thoroughly, leaps before she ponders and does what Continue reading

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What’s Wrong with this Picture?

June 14, 2024June 14, 2024 Iris Ruth Pastor

Like most of my friends and family members, I do a lot less shopping in person and a lot more ordering stuff online these days. Amazon is my go-to. I simply ADORE the “free shipping.” Of course, dabbling on and off in handcrafted items myself, I am also a big fan of ETSY. There “free Continue reading

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Cries Before Annihilation

June 7, 2024June 7, 2024 Iris Ruth Pastor

I never cried the entire time I was in Poland.I expected to, but I didn’t.   My tears didn’t start until we landed back in the States – after checking into a sterile Marriott Hotel room sandwiched between other non-descript hotels and the JFK airport.  I realized I was over tired. I realized I was sick with Continue reading

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Incidentally, Iris

For the past ten years, Iris’s “Incidentally Iris” column has appeared in The American Israelite, a weekly newspaper for Cincinnati’s Jewish community and the American Jewish community. Founded as The Israelite on July 15,1854, by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, the paper today is the oldest English-Jewish weekly in America and the second oldest in the world. (The London Jewish Chronicle was founded in 1841.) Read Incidentally, Iris columns on The American Israelite