My life has been blessed with remarkable role models. And I was lucky to have experience with blended families  and step-grandparenting early on. One of the most remarkable and inspiriting was my step-grandmother. She was my Tinker Bell, complete with fairy dust that made me want to follow in her footsteps. Ever since […]

I have been thinking back to the time I learned a valuable lesson: that positive things can flow from negative events. In this case, it was the pain of an ankle so shattered it had to be screwed back together and a dear friendship that wasn’t nearly as broken as I had thought it to […]

    Today, at sundown, is the start of my judgment day. Not me alone, but all of the members of my faith community of Judaism.  Tonight is Rosh Hashanah (Jewish holidays start at sundown rather than daybreak), which most people think of as a celebration of the New Year. In fact, Rosh Hashanah, literally […]

    Dear readers if you think maintaing relationships with and staying close to adult children and grandchildren is not always easy you are not alone. Here is my story: I remember the day I bid farewell to my Jenny, my eldest daughter.  She was just 18, and off to the mainland for college from our […]

    My husband Sheldon Good and I, both widowed fairly young, have a great big beautiful blended family. We have four children between us (one son passed away) and 24 grandchildren. Eighteen are the offspring of our children, and six we welcomed into the family as spouses.  And we expect to reach 36 “grands” […]