This is the Last Time … or is it?

We still have a landline in our home and our faux antique phones do not have caller id. Our line is not connected to voicemail, as those that need to reach us have our cell numbers. Because of this, the home phone tends to ring and ring until the caller eventually...

The Legacy of the Lipstick

Today would have been my mother’s 80th birthday. When she passed away in April of 2020, our family received many kind and beautiful emails, letters and cards. Most of these messages conveyed a consistent theme about my mother’s delightfully bright smile. She had...

The Last of the Snow Days

At almost 57 years old, I can absolutely remember the excitement of waking up to a snowstorm and the possibility of having a snow day. My siblings and I would be praying in front of our kitchen tv to hear our school’s name be called out on the local news as one...

The Snowmen of 2020

I snapped the ‘single’ snowman picture in April during an unexpected snow in the first month of quarantine. I took the ‘family’ snowmen picture yesterday at the same house. As one can see, the sole snowman grew to a group of snowmen during the nine months of our...

The Perfectly Imperfect Snowman

Living in the Chicago area often presents varying weather conditions from day to day. One day it is warm and sunny. The next day it is cold, windy and wet outside. This past Friday, we experienced an unexpected snow event. With nowhere to go, it was a beautiful gift...