And get a view from my perspective If I hear one more person tell me, “Be your own advocate with this disease,” I’ll scream. The disease is ALS and my husband is suffering from it greatly. Somewhere there should be a “Cliché Police Squad” to handle these verbal infractions. The…

Hello Padre! — We moved to a new house one year ago, and I set out immediately to become a parishioner of our local church. As I’ve written before, I love my faith, even though it has a lot of detractors. I registered with the closest parish to our house. My husband with…

“It’s so weird that we care so much until we don’t” — I admire Billie, all of 20 years of age. There’s a poised young woman with a bright future. I can’t relate to all of her lyrics of course as there’s a big generation gap. …

Gemini holding the memory — Swimming outdoors in July has to be on the top of everyone’s list. Is there anything that much better? Cooling off in a pool or a pond can be sublime on a hot day. Last week, on a scorcher, I donned my swimsuit under my workout attire and planned to…

Sometimes it’s too painful to watch — Before ipods and iphones had the video feature, actually before ipods, I was a video camera buff. I took libraries of video of my daughter and comedian poodle and the fun moments of our family life with my husband. Some footage is even from Italy which we visited often. I…

Will we ever fix our fixations? — How do you feel when you cannot bare to look in the mirror? My husband is terminally ill and cannot raise his eyelids when I brush and floss his teeth to look at himself these days. Many cultures have superstitions about mirrors and mirror-gazing, mostly related to wakes. But at…

bird, cat, goose, human — Splish Splash canary and red tabby bathingyoutube.com Now that I’m homebound as a caregiver, I observe more flora and fauna than I ever did before. “You can observe a lot just by watching,” said Yogi Berra The morning began at 6 with the canary Gino on one side of the hearth, and the cat Mario on the…

Wisdom from the Bayou — For a few lucky years, I knew a fun woman from Baton Rouge. Janet had a delightful accent and a great approach to life. She had moved to New Jersey with her husband and children due to her husband’s work. They didn’t like the North. …

Host a friend who barcodes her possessions, then do everything she says — In one short week many things in my chaotic household got sorted out. It’s nothing less than miraculous. Here’s what happened. The millennials evacuated the basement apartment to go on vacation for a week. Since January, they’ve been vital to the caretaking process by helping me with my hubby who…