In late March, my younger sister Cindy was admitted to the hospital. After a series of tests she was diagnosed with terminal lung and liver cancer. Like many of us, she has worked hard her whole life, currently lives alone, and until now has survived paycheck-to-paycheck. She will no longer be able to work, so those paychecks will stop, and a safety net is not yet in place. In the meantime, she will incur costly medical expenses, prescriptions for her treatment to prolong her life, and will require help to be keep a roof over her head, a modest apartment in our hometown of Racine, Wisconsin. My sister, Tami created this YouCaring fundraiser. For those who’d like to get to know my sister Cindy a little better, I offer this reminiscence, Legend of the China Doll. Continue reading
Mixed Metaphors
Mixed Metaphors, Oh My! – A place where words, this writer, and readers play together.
Tag Archives: Mothers
Ode to Blue-Collar Working Class Heroes
“There’s room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill” —John Lennon, Working Class Hero
In July both the Republican and Democratic Presidential Conventions concluded. Each party, their supporters, speakers, and candidates have driven stakes, describing in detail— some more than others — their position on the issues, their plans for the future, and identified who their party represents, or not. The Republicans embraced fear, law and order, and promised to “Make America Great Again.” The Democrats expressed optimism for the future and reaffirmed that America is already great, in fact, in the words of Michelle Obama, “This right now is the greatest country on earth.” And as a people, we are “Stronger Together.” Continue reading
A Triptych of Films about Family Love
“Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten.” — David Ogden Stiers
During the past week, I’ve seen three films, Love Is Strange, This Is Where I Leave You, and The Skeleton Twins. What do a story about gay partners who marry after 40 years together and then lose their income and home, a family sitting Shiva after the death of their father and husband, and twins estranged for ten years who reunite after one of them attempts suicide, all have in common? What is the familiar theme? Quite simply, like David Ogden Stiers quote it’s family and, “…no one gets left behind or forgotten.” Continue reading
Home: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow
“In life, a person will come and go from many homes. We may leave a house, a town, a room, but that does not mean those places leave us.” — Arik Berk
Yesterday
This Memorial Day weekend I returned to my childhood home. As a family, we celebrated the birthdays of two young men, grandnephews, the next generation coming up. The next day we planted flowers for my mother, their great grandmother, whose knees no longer bend, or are able to stand erect again without pain.