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Who I am partially reflects how I was raised by my parents. It was about priorities, but it was unquestionably all about family. From Sunday night dinners around my parents’ dining table, never with less than several extended family members and friends who were welcomed as family, to holiday meals that were always inclusive and more of a social gathering. Hosting 45 people was commonplace in our house even if that meant finding seating on the ledge of the bathroom tub or on the staircase separating the two floors of our 1,200-square-foot split-level house. Who I am is as simple as a Sunday. It’s my mother marching me into the Sunday School principal’s office to admonish him for extending classes an additional two hours, as it interfered with family time and then withdrawing me from school that very day. Who I am is due to my own parents saying “yes” more than “no”. Its due to all the travel they did and all the hours and expense of lessons and matches they endured just so I ...

Everything changed for me on October 7th, 2024, surprisingly even more so than when we experienced the horrific terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. We all watched with utter disbelief as news outlets showed real-time footage of the mid-air strikes of both twin towers followed by their unfathomable collapse. The entire nation was alarmed by the images of people running for their lives and of people running to protect lives. Never had we witnessed such brutality and disregard for human life on American soil. But then on September 12th, 2001, this country became one. We were horrified by the atrocities and yet we were unified because of them. We were bonded by the collective loss of innocent lives as well as by our collective sense of patriotism. The world's response to the evils of 9/11 was one of solidarity as reflected by the French newspaper's, Le Monde, headline, We are all Americans today. There was a collective commitment amongst our allies to protect...

     When did my cardiologist become younger than me? For that matter, how is it I even need a cardiologist? I now take these little pale, yellow pills for cholesterol. I have parents who take pills for cholesterol. I shouldn't be taking pills for cholesterol. And these so-called answers to my cholesterol are no larger than the size of a pinhead. What can that honestly do for me? My heart is much larger than that.     Just this past week while watching the NCAA's March Madness with my husband, the announcer, who no doubt was much younger than me, was providing historical data about a college basketball team who had just upset a number one seed. Apparently this team hadn't been to the NCAA tournament in over forty years.  Wow, that's like a lifetime ago, at least for the players and, it hurts me to admit, most of the broadcasters. That statistic was soon followed with, " and that was in the 80's" . Wait, what ? That's not a lifetime ago. That's like...