Mayday Mayday Mayday!!

Believe It Or Not, Everyone Walked Away. God is good.  Calling in Trouble.  Maybe you didn’t know that the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary is the uniformed, volunteer component of Team Coast Guard. Probably you didn’t know that  I met my husband when I joined the auxiliary. He taught the course, Boating Skills and Seamanship, that I completed as […]


Tears, Toilets, and Teachable Moments

Cadence and His Cherished Toy. Oh, and Cake. And Why I am Buying My Husband a Cape. We’d had a lovely dinner, the Southern California branch of the family herd rounded up and gathered at the endless trough of hospitality that is my-dad-and-his-bride’s-home. My sister was there with her younger boy, and Rich and I had brought […]


In the Philippines, They’re Looking for Us

Please.  We Can Be Hope. We Can Be Help.  Maybe you’ve heard the story that Fred Rogers offered as advice for helping young children cope with frightening  circumstances: When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always […]


Bug-Collecting and a Mother’s Heart: Lessons in Compassion

What Hearts Remember I read this amazing story the other day, I say to my mother-in-law. She and I sit in Denny’s, lingering over the last bites of our pecan-banana pancakes. Really?  Yeah. It was a blog post. Your kids caught bugs when they were small, didn’t they? And they brought them home in jars? She nods, […]