Caroline’s last hours in the hospice were peaceful for her but they were painful for us .   When the phone call finally came that she had died, despite the inevitability, the emotion was overwhelming.  

Caroline had battled breast cancer for seven years before dying at the age of 39.  In the days that followed I thought a lot about her parents, and husband, but I thought also about the children in our families as well as the children at the school  where she’d been a…

A tragic accident happened at our local Pittsburgh Zoo over the weekend.  I struggled with posting something about it for fear of what would happen in the comment section being that our platforms are ‘open’.  If you haven’t heard the story, a 2 year old boy, Maddox Derkosh, was lifted by his mother onto a railing at the African Painted Dog Exhibit.  As you can see below, Maddox wears glasses and his mother was just trying to give him a better view of the dogs.  When she lifted him onto the…

There is a piece of me that is missing. Anyone who has lost their mom can identify with the feeling.

Mother's Day is always a day that stirs up the emotions even more because of her absence. I do have a diversion because I am a mom. My kids and husband do sweet things for me during the day to…

Because my life’s passion is centered on the fundamentals of the overall well-being of children I see everything through the perspective of a mother, grandmother and parenting coach.…

The most awkward question a person can ask me is a simple, common question you ask someone you don’t know. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?” This can put the person I just met in an uncomfortable position because I have to say “yes, but he died toward the end of my 6^th grade year, he had cerebral…

My heart was just not into it…

As you have noticed I have not had a blog post in over a week. My heart was just not into it, as it has been somewhere else. It still is a bit, but I am slowly getting out of my rut.…

On May 3rd 1992, my son Eric Miller was killed in a one car collision. He was home visiting with family in Louisiana. My family and I visited Louisiana very often. However, when my son began to insist that he spend some time in Louisiana with our family, I reluctantly agreed.

After I received the phone call telling me that my beloved, beautiful and kindhearted son was killed in a car accident; I slowly began to understand why going home was so important to him. It seemed as if I was…

In 2005, one of the most beautiful, inspiring women I have ever met was taken by cancer. Lynette was born in 1973. If you do the math, she died much too young. She was a young wife, a new mother....

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The day Tom died, I lost more than a husband. I lost a family. From the moment I turned on CNN, the family I loved, enjoyed and belonged to began to fracture, as if the second the plane crashed it became more than tortured steel and shredded rubber.…

Well I made it through the day all in one piece. It’s been one full year since my mother past away but I’m still standing, holding down the fort. As I mentioned in my last post I didn’t know what to expect of my emotions when her one year anniversary came. But in the end the day was wonderful because I tried to focus on all the wonderful things about her and remember all the good times we had.

As I stated in my last post I wanted to revisit the trail I was running when I found…

Last Friday I wrote A Perfect Last Sunday, my recollections of spending the last Sunday with my first husband before he died. Today is the 12th anniversary of his death. On September 2, 1998, he was an ill-fated passenger on…

A few weeks ago I saw a flier for our county fair. I have always loved the county fair...roasted corn on the cob, cotton candy, funnel cake, livestock barns, and ferris wheels. They make me happy...but also sad.…