When the sun fails to shine through the clouds and the weather turns cold a lot of us get a little blue. My daddy is one who hates the winter. He’s like an old bear who decides it’s time to hibernate. He turns up the heat, gets in his recliner and chooses to snooze — […]

The fervor sets in around the middle of October, when pumpkins appear, seeming to beg to be carved into jack-o-lanterns and homeowners give in to the newish tradition of putting up ornate and ghoulish yard decorations. Then comes the demand to focus on being thankful, with gatherings of family members and the hand-wringing over serving […]

Yes, I need to lose weight and get more exercise but neither one of these will be my New Years’ goal. Too many years I focused on my outside when it came to making New Year’s resolutions. This year will be different. I’m going to work on the inside first. The older I get, the […]

“Oh, I really used to love to shop,” says Marnie Stuart. “I’d get all dressed up in the morning and head out, and stay at it all day long. Sometimes, I’d come home and then regret not getting some item or another — and I’d go right back that afternoon and get it.” But Stuart, […]

I love taking photos and have since I was a kid. I also love looking at the really old pictures passed down through the family. It’s really sad when there are some pictures and no one seems to know the names and relationships. It makes me wonder. How many years will it take before no […]

“I flew solo,” says Jane Barton, recalling that “by nature, nurture, and necessity” she became the primary caregiver for her mother who suffered a long and debilitating illness. Barton was only 15 years old when that solo flight began. Decades later, she says the biggest lesson she learned from the experience is still indelibly etched […]

In 2018, Newsweek published an article that featured Rob Lowe and centered on his role as a family caregiver. It’s an excellent article and Lowe talks about the stress, the emotional toll and the rewards of being there for his mother while she endured stage 4 breast cancer. It’s estimated that over 50 million Americans […]

Why am I up in my office writing blog posts while my beloved Sooners are fighting for the Big 12 title? I’m a chicken. That’s the only answer I can come up with. I’ve been rooting for my Oklahoma Sooners all my life. I come by it through the blood. It was my Granny’s favorite […]

I do love Christmas, really I do, but it seems it’s been Christmas around here since right after Halloween! All the stores in our little town started selling decorations and trees even before November hit the calendar. And then there’s the television movies where everyone lives in a perfect world in a perfect house and […]

To mangle a Twainism: The reports of Social Security’s demise are greatly exaggerated. Social Security benefits, which provide critical income for nearly 63 million retired or disabled workers, along with their dependents and survivors, will continue to be paid for the foreseeable future. But to mangle someone else’s words — possibly Kool & the Gang — […]