A few weeks ago, someone took my You Are Beautiful sign from our front yard and I remember hoping it had found a good home and vaguely planning to replace it with a more permanent model. Then, the coronavirus came to town and trapped us all in this weird Stephen King novel. Suddenly, the air [...]
Category: neighbors
One at a time
We're going to make our way through this pandemic one day at a time. It's a little overwhelming to think beyond that. So, we move forward one friendly wave at a time. One charming sidewalk chalk message at a time. One family group chat at a time. One deep breath at a time. One kind [...]
Irish blessings
Yesterday I hung out for a little while with an Irish blessing. At 92-years old, she jigs a little slower than she did when she was knee-deep in children and baking cookies for the neighborhood. But, her words fly as fast and witty as they did when she was the 16-year old Maypole Queen of [...]
Here’s to my friend Jan on the 10th anniversary of her stroke
My friend Jan has always been one of our neighborhoods' more impressive residents. A cheerful whirling dervish, Jan worked as a school nurse, mothered two boys and greeted every weird medical question I had with a confident smile and a ready solution. In a general phone conversation with her once, I casually mentioned that I [...]
Beautiful people: A world-changing peep
My friend Harriet drives an adorable yellow Bug, and a world-changing program based on empathy and joy. Wisconsibs, whose mission is to foster a community of support and understanding for brothers and sisters of individuals with special needs, has grown dramatically and strategically in the 20 years since Harriet founded it, shortly after the birth [...]