A Treasure: My Daughter’s First Graduation Photo
I mentioned last year that I found many “treasures” when I cleaned out some cupboards. Here is one of them—my daughter’s preschool graduation photo from May 1990. Her preschool was part of a Catholic parochial school. She started at the “early childhood learning center” (as the preschool was formally called) when she was three months […]
Spring Has Finally Sprung
March and April this year were dreadful months—cold and dreary. Even if we had an occasional nice day during the week, the weekends were dank and gray. We’d had little snow through the winter, so to make up Mother Nature dumped storms on us, first one on Easter (April Fool’s!), and then another a week […]
A Story I’ve Rarely Told Before: My First Bad Haircut
I’ve written before about my dislike of beauty parlors, which dates back to early childhood. I have never been comfortable in salons, even though most of the time the stylists gave me better haircuts than when my mother cut my hair at home. However, a couple of weeks ago I got the worst haircut of […]
Party Like It’s 1843: Celebrating the 175th Anniversary of the Great Migration to Oregon
I’ve written before about the Great Migration of 1843—the first large wagon train along the Oregon Trail. This was the first organized company to take wagons to Oregon from Missouri. That year, over 700 people set out for Oregon, transported in more than 100 wagons. Men like Jesse Applegate, Peter Burnett, Philip Foster, William Livingston […]
Milestone: Deleting My Father’s Email
Today, April 25, 2018, would have been my father’s 85th birthday. (He was 52 days younger than my mother, so her 85th birthday passed several weeks ago.) He died on January 5, 2015, and we held his memorial service on April 25, 2015—three years ago today, on what would have been his 82nd birthday. I […]
A Visit to the National World War I Museum and Memorial
Kansas City is home to the National World War I Museum and Memorial, which is, according to its website, “America’s only museum dedicated to sharing the stories of the Great War through the eyes of those who lived it.” My husband and I have visited the museum several times, and it truly is a national […]
On Memories and Liars and Lying Memories
At Mass last Sunday, the second reading was from 1 John, and included 1 John 2:4 (NAB): “Whoever says, ‘I know him,’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” As the lector read those words, I was transported to a time twenty years ago when I […]
You Know Your Children Are Grown When . . . [Part V]
I’ve written on this topic several times in the past, but in recent months I’ve had more occasions to reflect on the benefits of having grown children. You know your children are grown when 1. Both children call on your birthday, and you don’t think one reminded the other this year (though maybe . . […]
The Great-Grandmother I Know the Most About: Cecelia Ryan Strachan
I never knew my great-grandmother Cecelia Ryan Strachan, my maternal grandmother’s mother. In fact, Cecelia died before my mother was born, so my mother never knew this grandmother either. But I can piece together some facts about Cecelia’s life, from family stories and from Sacramento newspaper articles and histories. That’s one of the advantages of […]
The Great Spoon Bread Debate
My son came to visit recently, and while he was here, an old family debate surfaced in our kitchen and on Facebook. As I’ve mentioned before, my son likes to cook. As he was planning his trip home, he told me he would be happy to fix some meals for us—and he specifically mentioned making […]