The music that was missing

I recently realized that something was missing from my life.
Music.
Not piano music that I play, or church music that I sing. I have plenty of both of those kinds of music.
No, the music that was missing was the music that I like to listen to.  Since I stopped driving to work (almost four years ago), [...]

A letter to Margaret

Dear Margaret,
How did you get to be three years old already? It was just yesterday that you were newly home from the hospital, orange with jaundice, wearing those horrible bilirubin lights. (Note: we didn’t know that you had jaundice, as you didn’t look orange to us. We thought you looked perfectly normal. Of course, we [...]

More thoughts on Paris

I’m still processing my trip to Paris. We saw so much, and I learned so much about French and European history, that I need time to process it all. (Although I don’t think I’ll ever keep all of the King Louis straight – what’s the plural of King Louis? – couldn’t they have used a [...]

Are we there yet?

I mentioned in yesterday’s blog post that I’m leaving for Paris on Friday.  I’m going with a group of DePaul leaders, to spend a week “walking in the footsteps of St. Vincent DePaul.”  (It’s like a pilgrimage, but with less spirituality.)  It’s an all-expenses paid trip to tour Paris, learn about St. Vincent and the Vincentian [...]

Feeling Pampered now

One person going out of his or her way can make all the difference.
I blogged earlier about my frustration with Pampered Chef; specifically, the Web site navigation, system deficiencies, and customer service wait times.  On Saturday, Tim ran into our friend Mark, who works for Pampered Chef, and told him about my frustrations.  Yesterday at [...]

A blog post with Finesse (and Suave and Salon Selectives)

I left Helene Curtis, my first post-MBA job, in 1995, and I have spent the last 13+ years trying to find my way back to a similar organization  (I went back for 5 more years after Unilever acquired HCI, and it was good, but nothing like the old days.) I know that not everyone who [...]

10 things I miss hearing

I lost my dad to congestive heart failure a little over two years ago.  He was three weeks shy of his 90th birthday.  Because he was so sick in the last year or so of his life, my immediate reaction to his death was mostly relief, as I didn’t want to see him suffer anymore.  [...]

Deep pockets

Every couple of years, I feel the need to clean out my coat pockets.  Here’s what I found this morning in the pockets of my winter coat:
1) My crumpled-into-a-ball black leather gloves
2) My CTA card
3) My Blackberry
4) 6 1/2 used tissues (and I mean REALLY used)
5) One lavender “Dora the Explorer” glove
6) $.23 (two dimes [...]

And then you’ll be a man, my son

My son (my only son, David, 5) adores his dad.  Adores his dad so much that all he wants to be when he grows up is a daddy.  This is after he marries our neighbor Fen, who is an older woman at age 6. (“Someday, when Fen and I are married…” he muses. )  (The marriage [...]

A great day in the worst month

I think February is the worst month.  (I know, I know, I complained a lot about January.  But my birthday is in January, so there’s always at least one bright spot in the month for me.)  But February, despite the fact that it only has 28 days, always feels like a very loooonnng month.  But [...]