Sightings Over Sixty: Cold Chills

Sightings Over Sixty: Cold Chills:      This week we're getting cold chills . . . not because of the weather, not because Halloween is looming on the horizon, but because ...

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5 Speed Bumps You Encounter on the Way to Your Dream (and How to Get Over Them)

We’ve all been there. You want it so badly, you can taste it. You’re so close to that dream, you can touch it. But then something happens.  You hit a speed bump...  http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/5-speed-bumps-encounter-way-dream-get/

How to Be an Awesome Mom

My mother with a very pudgy yours-truly.

I had lunch with my mother recently.  We laughed.  We became teary-eyed over my recently-deceased father.  We lamented over the world’s problems.  I couldn’t help think what a great mother she’s been all my life.  And that got me thinking.  What makes a great mother?  What are those special qualities?  Is love enough?  Or maybe it’s also these seven traits...

6 Ways Immigrants Enrich America

I can’t say his name.  But it begins with “T” and is plastered on every skyscraper in Manhattan.  This Presidential candidate has his comb-over in a tangle over immigrants.  Forget that most of us are here because of immigrants.   

Now I’m not talking about criminals --documented or undocumented.  I agree they should be removed, as any dangerous element should be in our country.

Instead this debate has me thinking about people I know personally from other countries.  Many have enriched my life.  Do they all have green cards?  I don’t know.  I also don’t care.  Maybe I should.  But I don’t.  Not only that, I believe immigrants strengthen America in 6 important ways…

8 Tricks to Reading Your Cat’s Mind

Felines are mysterious.   One minute they’re nuzzling your leg.  The next they’re scratching your hand.  What’s not to love?  Here are 8 surefire ways to read your cat’s mind and if not exactly get this animal, at least level the playing field.

Do Houses Have Souls?

You think they’re just wooden structures.  They’re containers, made to hold people and possessions.   Houses don’t have souls.  At least that’s how I felt until I drove by my old home of ten years.  That’s when my heart broke.

Farewell to a Great Friend

I watch him shuffle around the house and know he doesn’t have much time.  I push back the sadness.  There’s nothing left to do.  Simon’s 13 years-old and in constant pain.  His back legs are bent and twisted.  Still, I look at this dog and hate what I have to do.

The 6 Life Stages of the Summer Carnival

You know that tug.  You drive by and pretend you don’t care.  Your kids are grown.  Why go anymore?  Then you roll down the window and smell the popcorn and hear the tinny music.  It takes you back. And that’s when you realize the summer carnival has seen you through 6 major life stages…

5 Surprising Things I Felt When my Father Passed Away

You think you know how you’ll feel, but you don’t.  When someone close to you dies, sometimes you react differently than expected, depending on the circumstances.  When my father passed last Sunday, I was ready to feel one way.  But surprisingly, 5 unexpected emotions tugged at me…

Saying Goodbye to Dad: 6 Unexpected Thoughts On Hospice

You walk the halls with other dazed-looking family members and wonder what brought you to this strange facility called hospice. 

It’s a place of intersections.  On one hand, it’s the world of the living --busy and bustling with plans and schedules.  On the other, it’s the world of the dying, the silent, unknowable spirit world.

Here are 6 things I've observed while saying goodbye to my beloved 82 year-old father... 

6 Major Life Lessons...from Anthony Bourdain

He travels. He writes. He hosts CNN's "Parts Unknown" each Sunday.  Most episodes I come away a little older, a little wiser then when I first picked up the remote.  To that end, I see how Anthony has taught me 6 crucial life lessons…

How I Barely Survived IKEA

The other day my son Paul suggested something so disturbing, so cringe-inducing, so horrific, I had to hold onto my kitchen counter for support.  “I need a new bureau. Let’s go back to Ikea.”  All I could do was shake my head, repeating the word, “No.” I cannot.  I will not go back to IKEA for these 9 reasons…

Confessions of a Daughter-in-Law

Have you ever wanted to tell someone something but the words never came?  Maybe you were embarrassed or got busy but the moment didn't arrive.  And then it was too late.  And you have regrets.  This happened to me recently.  Here are 6 things I wish I had told Joyce, my mother-in-law….

How to Tell You’re a Really Good Father… or the Night Poopsie Came to Town

None of us know when we’ll be tested in life.  Some tests are big.  Some are small.  A test my husband Randy will never forget came on a June night in 1995 involving several confused neighbors, two police cruisers and a Chihuahua named Poopsie.

8 Amazing Perks to a Weekend Alone...

Have you ever had the urge to get away by yourself?  I recently spent a weekend alone which was…okay…incredible.  And afterwards, I realized it helped in 8 vital ways…

How to Pick a Really Good Husband

This picture was taken June 7th, 1980.  Randy and I were 23 years old.  Thirty-five years ago we knew nothing much except we loved each other.  But looking at this bride, I give her kudos for one thing.  She knew how to select a mate.  To that end, I have 8 thoughts for any women out there not sure if their guy is husband material…   

Helping Mom Help Dad

Anyone who reads my blog knows I write about my Dad… a lot.  He’s always on my mind since he suffers from late-stage Parkinson’s disease.  And yet there’s another person I'm always thinking of, who keeps the machinery of my father’s world moving like clockwork, who’s as necessary, irreplaceable and vital as the sun is to the earth.

The 6 Most Shocking Things about Having Adult Sons...

Wait.  I’ve been a Mom 24 years?  How did that happen? One moment my boys are sipping juice boxes.  The next they’re playing Beer Pong in the basement.  Some things I expected like that maternal tug when I see my little boys now grown men with lots of facial hair.  But here are 6 things I didn’t expect…

3 Things I Longed to Tell that African American Man

The other day I was in my neighborhood grocery store when I encountered a tall, middle-aged African-American man stocking shelves.  He had a cart full of product and part of it blocked my way.  I looked at him, smiling, saying “Excuse me.”  He turned and gazed at me, his eyes hard, his face tight and unsmiling.  And that’s when I saw it.