Home & Family
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The company we keep
“Tell me with whom you associate and I will tell you who you are.” ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe When I was a kid, my parents discussed the importance of choosing friends who were a positive influence — the sort who stayed out of trouble and earned good grades in school. My folks understood that our peers help shape who we become — nearly as much as our parents do. My mom often repeated the old adage, “You are judged by the company you keep.” In other words, if your friends are serial trouble-makers, you might look like a willing accomplice. Much later, when I became a mother, I made a…
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Sedatives, surprises and lots of support
“Anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you.” ~ Misty Copeland Nursing a dog who is seriously injured can be confining, but the next few weeks are especially critical for Coco’s recovery. I’ll do whatever it takes to help her — even though it means altering my own plans to accomplish that. As we begin Week Two of Coco’s eight-week healing process, I remind myself that major recoveries can’t be hurried. One small step at a time. Our house looks like an infirmary and will stay that way through the holidays. The Christmas decorations are still packed in the attic, where they’ll remain until next…
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The long road to recovery
“I’m not telling you that recovery is going to be easy; I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it.” – Art Williams First, thank you for your thoughtful texts, emails, and comments of support for Coco and our family. I’ve never received this much mail for any column or post I’ve written. Along with your support, you’ve shared hope-filled stories about your own pets and how they’ve recovered from illness and trauma. It proves that our pets are family, not accessories. When they hurt, we hurt. As promised, today’s post is an update on what’s next for Coco after the accident. Yesterday morning, several veterinarians at the animal hospital consulted…
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The ordinary instant
“Life changes in the instant. The ordinary instant.” ~Joan Didion It started out to be an ordinary, uneventful Saturday evening. In a few texts, my friend Deb and I had just agreed that we were looking forward to a quiet, cozy evening with our husbands. Nothing special to do. Then, around 6:15, I opened the front door to bring in two packages from the porch. And life changed. As she often does, our dog Coco followed me to the porch while I picked up the packages. Though Coco isn’t allowed to wander unleashed in the front yard, something caught her eye on the park-like boulevard across the street from our home.…
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October memories
“So I like best of all autumn, because its leaves are a little yellow, its tone mellower, its colours richer, and it is tinged a little with sorrow and a premonition of death. Its golden richness speaks not of the innocence of spring, nor of the power of summer, but of the mellowness and kindly wisdom of approaching age.” – Lin Yutang The following short essay began as a journal entry after my father died. Later, it was published in the October 1998 issue of Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion. It’s also included in my essay collection, Writing Home. Lately I’ve been thinking of these lines from Anne Mary Lawler’s poem…
