Sisters make the best friends in the world.~Marilyn Monroe “Hey, Kat!” I said cheerfully as I answered my phone. It was around 2:00 P.M. on a weekday in September. My sister’s voice sounded pained, almost inaudible as she whispered, “I am in the emergency room with a terrible pain in my side.” I could tell she was holding back tears as she said, “They ran some tests, and they think I have canc...

God gives us dreams a size too big so that we can grow in them.~Author Unknown The first four times we went to Sharing Shabbat, the weekly children’s service at our synagogue, we didn’t make it through the opening prayer of Ma Tovu. I cried after the first two weeks, and by week four I was ready to give up. Perhaps it was a mistake to think Jodie could become a Bat Mitzvah. Jodie was diagnosed...

Those who find beauty in all of nature will find themselves at one with the secrets of life itself.~L. Wolfe Gilbert I was excited to take my rescue Beagle to the river the other day, as it’s within walking distance of our new home. Having spent her first six years in a cage, Georgie had never seen a body of water, and I wanted to get there before sunset to watch her experience it. I was grow...

What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.~Albert Pike I recently retired from twenty-three fulfilling years as a classroom teacher. One of the treasures from my classroom is a little wooden apple painted with the saying “To teach is to touch a life forever.” Throughout my career, I thought a great deal about the idea...

Jumping at several small opportunities may get us there more quickly than waiting for one big one to come along.~Hugh Allen Like most teenagers, I felt I would be ready spread my wings and be on my own as soon as I graduated high school. My life would be so much different than my mom’s. She was already married and had me to take care of when she got her high school diploma. I was sure attendi...