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I am challenging myself to write this column without (not once) mentioning that word we are all tiring of. Here goes ... I would not consider myself a good cook. Adequate, yes. I fed my children fairly nutritious food - although an occasional Pop-Tart or chicken nugget wasn't unheard of. Now that the kids are gone, I have even less motivation in the kitchen. I am reminded of my Norwegian mother's sentiment: the only reason I have a kitchen is because it came with the house!...
As an ICU physician, I have seen the horrors of COVID-19 up close. I have witnessed firsthand what this virus can do to people, to their bodies, to their spirits and to their families. These patients become frighteningly sick, and they do so frighteningly quickly. In all my years of clinical practice, I have never seen anything like this before. And so, I am a big believer in doing what we can do as individuals to help reduce the spread of this virus. This includes social...
We lost my paternal grandfather, Pooky, last month. He would have been 99 in August. He did not die from COVID-19 but was a victim, nonetheless. Pooky was the life of the party who never met a stranger. He had the unique ability to draw even the most curmudgeonly into his circle and find common ground in his many passions and joys. His was a life well-lived, full of love and laughter. The story of how he became "Pooky" is one I never tire of telling. As kids, my brother and I...
I only have 500 words, so I'll be brief. Be who you are, ignore the critics. Listen to the person inside - not the one who's wrong, but the one who knows right from wrong. Really love those whom you love. Honor those whom you hate. Pray for them; they need it. We all do. Stop judging. We have all fallen short, and you do not increase yourself by decreasing others. You know that, and many other things, so follow truth. Who you are is great, so stop pretending to be great. What...
I have a little secret. I am kind of enjoying this era of enforced isolation occasioned by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Sure, there are days when I awaken feeling that I'm living the plot of "Groundhog Day." And I do worry for myself, my loved ones, my friends and even strangers who may become severely ill. Yet I can't help feeling a sense of peace and contentment most of the time. I have always loved my solitude. Most days, there is nothing I would rather do than da...
Several weeks ago my daughters came up with this crazy idea of all of us going to South Carolina for a family vacation. What's even more ridiculous, they wanted to leave in 12 days! "Absolutely not"! I predictably replied. "How in the world do you think we could just pick up and leave on such short notice, especially in our current world"? But they were ready for me, complete with an impressive PowerPoint presentation, cost analysis and an arsenal of answers at the ready for...
I think the refugees currently living with my husband and me would have enjoyed Hinsdale's Fourth of July parade. By "refugees" I mean my daughter, Amanda, son-in-law Drew and my 5-year-old granddaughter, Avery. The trio made a hasty exit out of New York City at the end of March, just as the COVID-19 crisis made life there too uncertain for them. After an anxious 12-hour drive across Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and on into Illinois, the trio arrived on our doorstep in the midd...
My tenure as a contributing columnist officially ends today with my 31st column for the Hinsdalean. Adding five written earlier for The Doings brings the total to 36 over 10 years. I've loved the challenge despite sometimes struggling to think up topics and always spending a long time doing the actual writing. Throughout, I've followed a path of writing about what I knew best. That's why my columns have been filled with personal anecdotes from all stages of my life. Today I'd...
My teenage son, who runs cross country, shrugs and cringes slightly when I invite him to run with me these days. Once a junior Olympian and collegiate runner myself, I'm no slouch, but there's no denying that my speed and my cool-ness have faded with time. When I look in the mirror, I sometimes see my 18-year-old self with endless energy and a mischievous grin, but sometimes, I imagine I see one of my grandmas - shrunken, crotchety and glowering back at me. It's hard to see my...
After volunteering these past few weeks at HCS Family Services with the food pantry and more recently experiencing the justified outrage about police brutality and systemic discrimination against black Americans, I've been thinking a lot about mindfulness. I've realized that mindfulness isn't just about contemplating or being aware of what's around me. Mindfulness is about taking action because of my awareness. Without this second part, my awareness is meaningless. In the...
These days, I find myself waking up to what sometimes feels like one long day on repeat. As our routines have changed, the days have a way of blending together. Occasionally, I have to remind myself what day of the week it actually is. I watched the movie "Groundhog Day" recently, which, in light of the COVID 19 quarantine, has taken on a slightly new meaning to me. This classic old movie imagines a moment when a cynical local weatherman, Phil Connors, gets caught in a time...
I'm going to be honest: the bloom is off the rose. I'm done with family time. What little attraction shelter-in-place once had for me is now gone. We can say how nice it is to slow things down, but all we're really doing is putting lipstick on a pig. I've pretty much run the gamut here. From the initial elation ("Finally some quality time together!") to my manic board game phase ("See? This is FUN! We're all together and we're having FUN!") to my manic baking phase (enough...
We moved to Hinsdale when I was 3 years old. I never could have guessed just how great this town would be, and I never could have imagined that the day I'd have to leave would come so quickly. Although I have always loved Hinsdale, it is the daunting task of saying goodbye that has made me realize just how special and important this town really is to me. As a kid, Hinsdale was swinging on the tire swing with friends and playing "cherry cherry" at Robbins Park. It was block...
The current crisis has triggered the recollection of a question in the muddle in the middle of my head, where there's plenty of room for faint relevance. The recollection was of something I'd read, perhaps 30 years ago, in a Chicago business publication. It was an exchange between several real estate agents about what they'd do with bookcases encountered in houses they were trying to market. All agreed bookcases were a problem, and the solutions they offered ranged from the...
I'm doing final edits to this column on April 28. Perhaps things have changed by the time you're reading it, but I hope not. So far, our family has weathered the pandemic by being very careful, especially those of us who are 75 - but we also worry and grieve for families who have suffered terribly. With time for idle thoughts, I realized that, after the kids moved out 30 years ago, my husband and I have experienced three distinct phases of "togetherness," defined as "time...
I was at the grocery store last week picking up a few things and was wearing a disposable mask. I noticed most customers were wearing masks as well and wiping down their carts. The checkout line had horizontal lines taped to the floor indicating where each customer should stand while they wait. It became my turn to put my items on the conveyor belt and as I started to, the woman in front of me, wearing a medical-grade N-95 mask, ordered me briskly to wait back and not place...
"Will the Corona virus be over tomorrow?" my two young daughters asked. "When will we be able to go somewhere again?" I struggle to find an answer that satisfies my inquisitive 5-year-old. As the weeks stretch on, I yearn for a sense of normal. When will we go to back the office and school? Will grocery shopping ever feel ordinary again? So much about our lives has suddenly changed. It's habit. We tend to define our days by what we have going on and where we are going. So,...
There's a funny meme making its way through social media these days, which reads: "Just a reminder that when Shakespeare was quarantined with the plague, he wrote King Lear." This is actually true of several Shakespearean works that were composed while the London theaters were closed. As if I weren't feeling unproductive enough that I'm not teaching myself to knit, brushing up on oil painting or abiding by a strict workout regime during these parlous times. There will come a...
Three weeks ago, I had it all. I was the lead in my school musical, "Footloose," I was going to Disney World, and I was anticipating the excitement that comes with the end of senior year. Then everything I was so certain about, everything that had been keeping me motivated for the past few months, was turned upside down. Disney World closed, canceling the trip I had looked forward to for months. School was out for two weeks, and school activities were closed for more than a...
Recently, a friend I saw at the orthodontist's office told me her family is missing all kinds of teeth. "Me, too!" I practically shouted, excited to know someone else plagued by weird orthodontics. I promptly rattled off our list of teeth that never materialized. It's pretty common, I guess - hypodontia - even Michael Jordan never got his right incisor, but I was happy to connect with my first, and only, no-incisor friend. When I'm plodding through the mundane, feeling a...
My husband and I have been huge fans of the "Great Courses" DVDs for years. Each of the hundreds of courses available typically includes 24 or 36 half-hour lessons taught by student-recommended professors. Our personal curriculum reveals a deep interest in science, linguistics and history, and our routine is to begin evening TV time by watching a class on the topic at hand. I've been very satisfied with most courses but was 95 percent dazed and confused with our latest,...
It has become the biggest news story for the last month. Every social media platform and news outlet has had its eyes trained on the latest information, constantly updating their systems, as it seems that more and more dire news has surfaced about the viral coronavirus. What started out as a normal strain of the flu has reached a global pandemic of more than 100,000 confirmed cases worldwide. Schools have been shut down in places like China, Japan and Italy. Travel plans have...
Changing habits can be difficult, especially when it's a choice and not something that is forced upon you. When I first lived in Belgium more than 30 years ago, the grocery store provided single-use plastic bags, and I used them. But a combination of factors, including extensive government campaigns about the environmental impact of these bags that made me feel guilty and bag taxes that made me not want to pay for them, changed my habits. I assembled a favorite collection of...
The human heart has many surprising angles. Some we can see and some we just have to feel. There are the angles of the stories told during February. Think about Valentine’s Day, the Hallmark Channel and Go Red for Women. There are the many angles that make up the anatomy of the heart. Ventricles, valves and veins all working together in vibrant harmony. Finally, there are the angles of love. Expansive when we are attracted to someone and gentle when we need forgiveness. The a...
Midwestern winters require more than just the recommended fur-trimmed puffy coat. Dressing in warm layers is helpful. But, sometimes it's simply not enough. I have learned over the last few years that it takes a certain amount of outrageous optimistic thinking to face a particularly cold and gray forecast. I used to think news reports of people wearing flip flops while Christmas shopping in the snow and nearly naked people running into Lake Michigan for the polar bear plunge...
