Sorted by date Results 112 - 136 of 234
I read a weekly email called “3-2-1” Thursdays” by James Clear, the author of “Atomic Habits.” And I usually agree with his personal writings and the poems and literature he shares, under a focused theme, from other authors. However, one week in late 2021, I disagreed with what he wrote on the topic of resilience and growth. “Growth demands a temporary surrender of security,” he wrote. “It may mean a giving up of familiar but limiting patterns, safe but unrewarding work, values no longer believed in, relationships t...
A college friend of mine is going to be a first-time grandparent soon and wants to suggest baby names. Names. Funny thing about names ... I have a group of friends, and, coincidentally, we're all redheads. Back in the day, we dubbed ourselves the Redhead Club. (Sorry, Gen Zers, we weren't Gingers. This was the 1990s.) We'd call club meetings as a reason to dine out, drink wine and share girl talk. After going out, we'd convene in the third-floor apartment on West Cornelia in...
Some things, they don't warn you about. Others, even things you'd rather not know, are shared in abundant detail - labor and delivery experiences, kids' test scores, social gaffes. All stories told parent-to-parent about raising kids. To be fair, I am grateful for the stories, most of which can be boiled down to a central nugget of meaningful advice. Girlfriends and strangers alike have shared knowledge that is worth more than any information from Dr. Oz, Oprah or podcasters...
As I write this article, I'm in the throes of "the most wonderful time of the year." My kitchen island is littered with barely-legible to-do lists, package deliveries are coming in so fast and furious Vin Diesel would blush and my browser has so many open tabs that I fear my laptop is about to overheat. The same goes for my brain: Ho-ho-holy crap, there's still so much to do. When I was younger, I didn't truly understand what went into making the holidays special. Write a...
Your cares will disappear When you hear Hallelujah St. Nicholas is here When it’s Christmas time In New Orleans In a column last March, I summarized my travelogue recollections from prior visits to the city not for spectators, but for participants. Taking advantage of my college freshman’s holiday break, I joined Maya a few weeks ago in an easy pursuit of “bon temps” in New Orleans. Day 1 we started in the Bywater District with an outdoor table at Alma Café. Waiting on lunch...
Every holiday season I am thankful I am able to cozy up around the fire with family and friends and rewatch the holiday classics. Images of Clark Griswold hanging lights, the Kranks getting a tan at the mall and Buddy the Elf eating syrup drenched spaghetti dance through my head like sugar plums of yesteryear. In the midst of those visions, one movie stands above the rest: “It’s A Wonderful Life.” With all of the colorful wannabes and the passage of time, it is easy to forget how wonderful this movie is and the message it ca...
I smile more to gain ... less. As cheesy as it may sound, I have just started smiling more. (To be honest, my life is pretty great right now). I smile when I wake up early in the morning, when I see the sun rising, when I am preparing dinner, when I am spending time with people I love. I smile when I walk to my car and take in a view of the sky, albeit knowing I will be driving my kids around for the next three hours to activities. However, I can take this time to talk with th...
On our National Day of Thanks, I would like to send out a special message of appreciation to the woman who managed to not kill me when I was out for a run a couple weeks ago. When you didn't have your turn signal on, I assumed you actually weren't turning your car. Silly me! Honestly, after decades of jogging and biking through our fine town, I should have known better. For some inexplicable reason, certain people just refuse to flip that little lever on the steering wheel....
Today, I thought I'd tap into my intellectual grandiosity to present a philosophical theory. A question of id vs. ego, thought vs soul, good vs evil. Or maybe, if I could entice you to go deeper into the discussion: Phoebe vs Joey. In an episode of the TV series, "Friends," Joey states that true altruism doesn't exist, because in doing something nice for another person, the benefactor himself gets positive feedback or psychological warm fuzzies for doing so. Any act of...
Word nerd. Grammar geek. Vocabulary vigilante. Take your pick. They've all applied to me since, well, forever. As a toddler, my parents regularly found me cuddling Golden Books instead of stuffed animals when they peeked into my room at night. "Reading Rainbow" was must-see TV and had me begging for a library visit as soon as the credits rolled. I have a particularly vivid recollection of filling a sketchpad with hot neon scribbles (hey, it was the '80s!) and claiming I was wr...
I write to thank Hinsdale Falcon Football & Cheer and “Falcons Nation” for a wonderful fundraising celebration this past Friday night. A special thank you to event organizers and benefactors Nadine and Bill O’Malley, Kay and Mike Sharples, Tracy and Craig Zoberis, and Stephanie and Jim Hamman. Their efforts, and the generosity of nearly 200 Falcons families and supporters, have put this outstanding 100 percent volunteer organization in a position to succeed and thrive well into the future, extending more than 50 years of pr...
It's that time of year for seniors - college application season. College applications are many things, one of which is not easy. Speaking from experience, they're a bit of a chore - sort of like cleaning my room, with added importance, of course. My room appears as if a hurricane spiraled through, with piles of laundry, snacks and my dog's footprints. I ignore my mom's texts to tidy up until she pounds on my door. I hear a constant knocking these days, reminding me to get...
With the holidays right around the corner, it's time to consider The Fear-of-Death Diet. Of all the diets I've tried, none has been more successful than The-Fear-of-Death Diet. It's a lot like that well-known adage: "Nothing clarifies the mind like a hanging." Especially your own. I came across The Fear-of-Death Diet by accident at my doctor's office. Most of my "numbers" were not good. Since I was an avid, decades-long lap swimmer, I thought I could eat whatever I wanted. App...
I never expected to be where I am now. And I am everything I expected I would be now. I never thought I would be a single mom now. And I know I am a better parent because of that now. I never thought I would still not be in the career I want at age 45, right now. And I know that every day I keep learning, especially now. These seem like complete contradictions. Since I last wrote for The Hinsdalean, so much has changed, and these statements are completely true and in juxtaposi...
The room where my husband Mark and I wait with our dog Cody is sterile and smells like antiseptic. It never bothered me before, but now the bare beige walls and steel table seem harsh and mean. We sit in silence on the hard wooden bench. We've discussed every possibility. Everything's been tried and nothing worked. I've worn my glasses for a month now. My contacts get too fogged up when I cry. I scan my phone while Mark sits with his elbows on his knees, watching our dog....
I can't help but chuckle at all the recent social media posts from parents dropping off their freshman kids at college. Could you people be any weepier? Come on! It's not like they're moving to the other side of the world and disowning you forever. I can laugh, of course, because I'm past that point in my life. I can also laugh because back in the day there was no more blubbering parent on the face of the earth than yours truly. As for my kids, they were just fine. In fact,...
Years ago, when I began writing for The Hinsdalean, I was asked to introduce myself in a short column. I described myself with a string of nouns: “wife,” “mother,” “daughter,” “doctor,” etc. These words, I thought, summed me up quite neatly. Decades later, I’ve changed my mind. I offered readers my roles, the hats I don and exchange as I move through my life. But roles don’t define a person, do they? Rather, I think the essence of a person lives in the spaces between her...
As I'm sure was the case for many, this summer marked my family's maiden voyage from Hinsdale in 18 months. It was our first plane ride, first meal in a restaurant and first time seeing relatives in person. I was ready to travel - but completely unprepared to question my own identity. The trip was equal parts frustrating and enjoyable: We experienced the rainiest July in Massachusetts in 80ish years (yay, lots of unexpected time indoors) but also tons of face time minus...
Actual texts from my high school senior on the day Lollapalooza tickets went on sale back in May. 10:51 a.m.: Do.Not.Forget.Lolla.Tickets.Get.On.The.Website.At.11:58.And.Be.Ready. 11:22 a.m.: DON'T FORGET 11:53 a.m.: I WILL PAY U BACK (*author's note – still waiting) Noon: BUY 12:10 p.m.: She called to confirm the purchase, and I gave her a, "Doh, I knew there was something I forgot to do" line (which, due to my prior track record, she gave no credence). I provided her some qu...
"Welcome to the Hinsdale Community Pool! It's a scorcher out here today, Diane, and the competition is really heating up!" "You're right there, Bill. If you're just joining us, we've already seen some spectacular performances. Over in the shallow end, Henry and Reagan secured gold by throwing all four of their shoes into the pool in under 9 seconds." "Were points awarded for shooting between Grandpa's legs while he listened to his audiobook?" "Involving Grandpa is a hit with...
My teenage boys will never forgive me for “The Velveteen Rabbit.” They insist they remain emotionally scarred, more than a decade after first hearing it. “But the rabbit becomes real!” I protest. “Mom! The boy doesn’t get to be with his best friend EVER AGAIN! How is that a happy ending?” Needless to say, we take our love of loveys very seriously. We have lovey stories that run the gamut from tragic to comedic to touching, yet somehow all tear-jerking. There’s the one when we...
Five years ago this August I wrote a guest column about the passing of our beloved yellow lab, Sam Adams. A heartbreak for all of us, but as it turns out, our hearts were again captured by another yellow lab, this time a puppy that we named Augustus “Augie” Wilhelm. Augie was a captivating yellow furball who grew to be 95 pounds of unrestrained exuberance and energy. Augie is smart, as most labs are; he can track a ball thrown over the garage and catch it, put away his toys and (according to my husband) tell time — dinne...
I'm in a mood - and not a good one. I read the papers, look on the internet, get in my car, watch TV, and it seems almost everywhere I go, people are in a mood too. The world is supposedly ending (due to disease or global warming, take your pick), people have decided they no longer need to be civil to one another, much less help each other, and the people we've elected to government offices have largely made everything divisive, attempting to sway people to "their side." My...
The house next door to us is going to be torn down. I know that isn't news in this town where old homes are torn down everyday. But there are many things that happen all the time - every day - and until they happen to you, well, they don't mean as much. I should add that while it is accurate to say that homes are torn down all the time, it is not accurate to say that it has happened on our block. In fact, except for a couple of homes on the edges of our block, it, and the home...
When I last wrote an article for the paper, I had just finished my senior year of high school and was getting ready to begin a new chapter of my life at the University of Georgia. My first year at school was filled with new friendships, lots of school work, fun nights out, a new sorority and many memories. Despite some COVID-19 setbacks, such as online classes and limited events, I am grateful to say that I was able to have a much more normal year than many other students....
