Many years ago, I knew a woman I’ll call Lorraine who saw herself as generous. She and her husband often took the pastor and spouse out to dinners they would not have been able to afford. She brought small wrapped gifts to the women’s group—one for each person. She helped her widowed mother and sister with things for their home. In the congregation, people assumed Lorraine and her husband were among the church’s most generous supporters.
Eighty-one-year-old John Nettles has said: “It's so good to get up in the morning and see a donkey - they're just unbelievably beautiful and funny. My donkey Hector..
Mabel Breneman was my husband’s maternal grandmother, whom I met when I was 19 years old and she was 84 years old. Everyone called her Grandma, and I adored her...
My husband died in 2004 when he was just 49 years old. Since then, I think I’ve had more than my share of “mortality thoughts,” the theme of this series of blog posts...
You know Benjamin Franklin’s observation that there are two things for certain in the world—death and taxes. So perhaps in this season when we are striving to meet the..
As we approach Easter, a time of renewal and hope, I find myself drawn to the profound connection between caregiving and the heart of the holiday. As the CEO of a..
Shel Silverstein’s book, “The Giving Tree”, first published in 1964 has been both beloved and banned over the years. For many the story of the relationship between the..
Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter once observed that “There are only four kinds of people in this world: those who have been caregivers, those who are currently..
Nine years ago, I decided I wanted a lap dog. I wanted a dog that would cuddle with me when I watched television and snuggle with me at night. At that point, we had had..
Generally speaking, there are three kinds of caretaking situations: (1) Those which occur within the family structure; (2) Those occasions outside the family structure;..
