Contemplating Family Relations

  Being a parent is a complex, glorious, awful joy that does not ever stop. Even though most of my kids have left the nest, I still worry, wonder what they are doing, if they are happy and how I can help them. I often think about things I could have done better to prepare them to face that big crazy world of ours.   If I am entirely honest, a world that is speedily growing dark in the face of so much empathic and social avoidance. We are losing touch with each other.   I know many people, including myself that feel they are more introverted.   When the whole crazy situation with COVID happened, isolation was kind of nice at first. Introverts in force isolation are like a drug addict in lockdown with an endless supply of their favorite drug. LOL, OK,   maybe it's not quite that bad! Generally speaking, for all introverts, we were OK with the mandates. Something happened over the months that I couldn't see and visit with friends and acquaintances. I missed people!...

  I have a beautiful clear memory of a warm autumn afternoon when my children were all young, and we were working as a family to "bring our harvest." We had a decent-sized garden that was very productive that year. I was sitting on our back porch step with my girls and husband, surrounded by pumpkins, gourds, and squash. We were laughing and chatting about nothing important, but we were enjoying being together. For one moment, my heart took a picture of that perfect love and happiness that we were all experiencing.   As I brush pasted another memory of taking my girls down to their grandmas to clear out flower beds and wash windows. It was early spring, and we spent the day working hard. The flower beds looked great, and the windows sparkled, but the memory of working and talking with my daughters and mother will live forever in my heart. If you haven't caught the connection in these memories, it's the blessing of family work. There was a time in the not-so-distan...

  Hello? Can you hear me? Communication: The imparting or exchanging of information or the means of sending or receiving data. Currently, we have been blessed with means of communication that our forefathers would perceive as magic. We send and receive information in the blink of an eye, and we can even talk face with someone that lives on the other side of the world!   Considering our communication advancements, one would think that we would be exception communicators compared to our ancestors. Sadly, this could not be further from the truth. Our abilities to understand one another have declined, especially in marital relationships. What could be the cause? It is probably a combination of busy lives, noses in smartphones, Ipads or TVs, and a growing habit to escape reality into virtual worlds. I have thought a lot about this problem this week. I participated in an exercise of noticing when I turn toward my spouse. I kept a detailed record for 5 days when I made a bid/cue ...

  We all go through hard times. Some things are more challenging than others. I think of things I have watched loved ones or friends go through, and my heart aches for their troubles and sorrow.   I remember about ten years ago, our business was going under, and we had to decide to declare bankruptcy. We decided not to and tried to start pulling ourselves out of possible financial ruin. We defaulted the business back to the previous owners and my husband, Frank, began to look for work. After about three months, he was still unemployed; we survived on our food storage and meager savings. We decided that my husband would leave in his pick-up and look for work in the oil fields. He found a used but serviceable camper shell at the dump and fixed it up.   He put one of our old mattresses in the bed of the truck, so he would have a place to sleep. He left our house with the last of our cash, $ 150, a cooler of food, and a prayer. I don't know if I have ever been so anxious and ...