Among the family treasures Mom left behind were packets of her personal letters. The earliest ones were written to her parents in the months after she divorced my father. My brother was four; I was a toddler. Mom was preparing to marry again. Her new marriage would take her over a thousand miles from home. [...]
Archive for the ‘Family’ Category
Dear Mom
Posted in Family, tagged family history, Family letters, genealogy, handwritten letters, Mothers and Daughters, postaweek2011, preserving history, writing letters on November 27, 2011 | 31 Comments »
My Brother Tim
Posted in Characters, Family, tagged Family, Grief Loss and Bereavement, Life, parent, postaweek2011, Sibling, Writing on May 1, 2011 | 29 Comments »
May is the month of warm breezes, blue skies, and fragrant lilacs. It is also the month Timmy was born. My big brother was seven and I was four when Tim burst into our lives, a blond bouncing wonder of a boy. Seventeen months later our baby sister appeared and our small house was filled. [...]
A Family for your Characters
Posted in Family, Writing Craft, tagged character development, family life, old photos, postaweek2011 on March 6, 2011 | 6 Comments »
My mom and dad divorced before my 2nd birthday. Within a few months, Mom moved to another state and remarried. She’d known my step-dad since their childhood in northern Minnesota. My older brother and I grew up in a household with Mom, our step-dad, and ultimately five other siblings. Our younger brother, Tim, died in [...]
Traveling American
Posted in Family, Reflections, Travel, tagged Airlines, bereavement, funerals, positive attitude, postaweek2011 on February 23, 2011 | 13 Comments »
“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.” ~ Henri Matisse Last week we had a sudden death in our family. I needed to travel from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin so I went online to make airline reservations. Since I had to fly in two days, the fares were close to $1,000; normally [...]
Mothers & Daughters
Posted in Family, Generations, Reflections, tagged Mothers and Daughters, Parenting, postaweek2011 on January 15, 2011 | 3 Comments »
I’m thinking of her today. Her gentle voice and proud image linger about me. The relationship between a mother and her daughter can follow many paths. A childhood friend was incredibly close to her mom. The two of them talked, laughed and shared silly secrets. Yet another good friend and her mother were like strangers; [...]
Wisconsin
Posted in Conferences, Family, Generations, Reflections on May 25, 2009 | 4 Comments »
The voice of my home state beckons and I hear her call. In a few days, I’ll board a small plane and fly west toward Wisconsin. My siblings and their families all live there and there my mother rests eternally on a hillside overlooking the town. I’ll visit her, of course, to whisper a prayer, [...]
Happy Mother’s Day
Posted in Family, Generations, Marriage, Reflections on May 10, 2009 | 6 Comments »
Her name was Sophie. I’ve learned what I know of her through the generosity of distant cousins. This picture is a precious gift from one of them. She is the mother of my father’s father’s father – my great-great grandmother. A French Canadian, Sophie was born in Quebec in 1835. She died in northern Minnesota [...]








