The Glass is Half-Full

In one day, late November, I had a most bi-polar sort of day. I can only liken it (especially this time of year) to what it would be like to deal with Scrooge, and then feel all curmudgeonly, and then only hours later to deal with Tiny Tim and feel all "God bless us everyone-ish". It actually happened only yesterday. So the feelings are fresh. I started my day with my cop of joe sitting on the couch with my furry sidekick, Wally. I played a game (and won!) on my phone and remembered that I might need to go to the grocery store later so I checked the balance of my checking account. This is where an ordinary day turned quickly sour because a payment that was scheduled to post on December 12 had instead posted that day. A $400-something payment to Sprint sent the balance on my small household checking account into the red and I began seeing red! I had used the automated pay system the day before and will never again. I called, despite the warning that 'talking to a

I left Saugatuck on a Wednesday afternoon to drive the 197 miles to Detroit to see my son Michael. I stayed at the Crowne Plaza - formerly the Ponchatrain - and was greeted warmly by the door man and valet. I was then greeted by the nicest bell hop ever who put my luggage on one of those trolley thingys and insisted on pushing it and me (in my wheelchair) to check in. Where a very nice clerk congratulated me on being and IHG Platinum member and then gave me a little gift bag that contained a chilled bottle of water, and apple and a bag of trail mix. As the bell hop was bringing me to my room he remarked, "you musta stayed in a lot of hotels to get the Platinum level." And yes, I have. In fact, this Crowne Plaza would be my first stop on a whirlwind tour to see the the three not-so-little Piggins. I drove 283 miles to Chicago the next day, Thursday, to deliver some things to Matthew who would be moving into a new apartment over the weekend. I would also be helping Delaney

What would Jesus do? I love to ponder that question when faced with a difficult or challenging decision. Like many of you, I had one of the WWJD wristbands and it worked as a great visual, moral compass. In situations like: "Should I start swearing at the driver of the car going 55 in the left lane of an interstate with a posted speed limit of 70 with the three little Piggins in the back seats of my mini-van?" First, even though Jesus never had a mini-van or children for that matter (unless you read or watched 'The Da Vinci Code' and follow the story line of Mary Magdalene being the wife of Jesus ... boy did I digress!), I'm pretty sure in this case, Jesus would not have sworn and certainly not thought awful thoughts about some idiot that didn't know that the left lane was for passing ... or how about a situation like this: You're in the express check out lane at the grocery story with the granola bars you promised to bring to your son and his team

Look what I found!?! I wrote this essay for the Grand Rapids Press in 2004 - about being in a politically mixed-marriage. While that still holds true - one of us isn't voting for their party's silver-spoon, narcissistic, bullying, blowhard candidate. Essay gr press Sun. Oct. 17, 2004 Couple face a great debate Mixed marriage means he’s for Bush, she’s for Kerry I am in a mixed marriage; I am a liberal with Democratic preferences and my husband is a Republican. Together, we are raising bipartisan children, as well as each other’s blood pressure every four years. Many people have looked at us in amazement, that we could have such divergent political beliefs and yet find in each other the ideal life partner. I will not lie and say it has not been without turmoil – especially during the Monica Lewinsky debacle and in this most-heated Presidential election. Yet, underneath it all, our core beliefs are the same. We long for a world that will be a better world

I spent this morning at Bible Study Fellowship where I'm a group leader. This afternoon, I spent 2 1/2 hours online shopping for supplies for a simulcast we are hosting at our church. More specifically, the simulcast is sponsored by our women's ministry - the ministry I volunteered to lead about a year ago. And then later this afternoon, I emailed & texted & called about a fundraising event our women's ministry is hosting in about 3 weeks. I had a conversation with our Pastor this evening. And just a short while ago, I worked on my Bsf lesson (while sipping my Cabernet). And it hit me - a comical thought if there ever was one ... I've become the church lady!! Now isn't that special! And crazy??!! The 20-something Kathleen Bowen is certainly rolling over in her boozy or hung-over stooper and saying something like "What? Are you crazy? I haven't been to church in a really long time!" And while I'm a long way from THAT 20-somethi

I'm fairly new to this four-wheeling life. I try to maintain mental balance by not venturing out too much on my own in unknown situations. (That was a way of saying, I don't take too many chances or I'd get frustrated!) But I threw caution to the wind a couple times this past weekend on Mackinac Island - and only a couple times did that pungent Mackinac Island wind (you know what I'm talking about those of you that have been there - a strange mixture of horse dung, fudge, popcorn and lake breezes) blow me over. First, the Island overall is not wheelchair 'friendly'. It's hilly off main street and if you're in a manual wheelchair (especially a lesser one like mine) going uphill is a challenge best overcome by going backwards if alone or by a really strong pusher (thank you John!). And if you're alone and going backwards in a crowd (and isn't there always a crowd in downtown Mackinac), you're likely to get plenty of; stares, offers for

I'm numb. Not from my MS, this time, but from the events of the past week. Emotionally numb. And this glass-is-half-full woman is struggling to even see a drop of water. So, this morning I've decided to sit down and write - in the hope of finding some water to fill my glass. Bear with me ... For Mother's Day in the year 2000, I was in D.C. for the Million Mom March. I spent the day away from John and the three little Piggins because the idea of two teen boys armed with legally purchased firearms that killed 12 and injured 21 in Columbine Colorado and terrorized a nation and called me to do something. The following was pulled from Wikipedia (I can't believe I'm citing Wikipedia!): "In the months prior to the attacks, Harris and Klebold acquired two  9 mm  firearms and two  12-gauge  shotguns. Their friend Robyn Anderson bought a rifle and the two shotguns at the Tanner Gun Show in December 1998. [28]  Through Philip Duran, [29]  another friend, Harris a

We have a dog treat jar that was given to us 12 years ago by my sister Kerri. When you open it it plays a part of one of two songs, "Who Let the Dogs Out" or "You Ain't Nothin' But a Hound Dog". It doesn't play them anymore - I think the batteries of run out and I'm not inclined to replace them. Wonder why? Anyway, the song Hound Dog was on mind last night when Wally, for the first time ever, caught a rabbit.  He ain't no friend of mine. He said he was high class. Well, that was just a lie. The back story is that we got home after a night of theatre and friends in Grand Rapids. (Saw Phantom of the Opera - fabulous staging/set/choreography. Memories of Delaney as Christine!) After six hours in his kennel, we knew Wally would be ready to be set free. And he was - much to the chagrin of the rabbits in the backyard who didn't see him coming. He grabbed at some animal, it yelped and Wally dropped it. He looked at me on the deck, seemingly

Pardon me while I ramble ... Being a peri-menopausal woman (I lost about half of the readers with that statement!) and one with MS, I have memory issues. So when I saw the commercials for Prevagen, a supplement touted to improve memory, I was motivated to give it a try. Problem was, every time I went to Meijer or Walgreens or Rite Aid, I'd forget to buy it. Or I'd forget to put it on my grocery list, or forget my grocery list or ... you get the picture!  You can't make this stuff up as my friend Patti would say.   Well, the stars aligned and not only did I put it on the list but I also remembered the list and a week ago my Prevagen experiment began. I'll let you know how it goes, if I remember to update you AND if I remember to take it daily!  Its main ingredient is some sea creature or jelly fish, so I'm concerned that if its as effective as the commercials claim that poor sea creature will become extinct because there are a lot of peri-menopausal women and

                          It's time. Peter Pan had to grow up.  For nearly 18 months of his life, Matthew dressed in this costume. In this picture it's new, just out of the box. He picked the costume out of a catalog and when it arrived, two weeks prior to Halloween, he asked daily if today was the day he could finally wear his Peter Pan costume. He didn't like the hat and only wore it on Halloween, but the rest of the costume he wore daily! You read that correctly - DAILY. He wore it to Meijer (for those of you unfamiliar with Meijer, it's a cleaner, friendlier, more 'upscale' version of WalMart), to church, to play dates and preschool ... Heck, he was three and adorable and it worked for him!  (Yes you read that correctly, he even wore it to church on one or two occasions when it seemed arguing with a three year old about not wearing a costume to church was not a battle worth waging. He once mentioned the priests wore dresses . . . I don't think Joh

About half-way through yesterday's journey to Michael's commencement from Wayne State Law, the song "Ain't No Stopping Us Now" was on shuffle play in my head. Between silent prayers asking for God's provision to get us to the Detroit Opera House by 4, this little R&B ditty kept me focused. And here's why. First and foremost, there was nothing more important to our clan. Matthew drove up from DePauw to Saugatuck so we could leave by noon. It was our mission to watch our son walk and to be there to help him celebrate. We were going 75 on I96, on schedule and about half-way to Detroit, when John got a call from the Subaru dealership where he'd purchased his new Outback about a month ago. Sitting in the back, listening to the one-sided conversation I knew there was some sort of crisis. My initial thought was it was work-related. Snippets included; "I didn't realize it was urgent", "I'm on my way to my son's graduat

It doesn't look like much - especially from this distance - but that mini van behind the tow truck was our world for many years.  Our family traveled nearly 180,000 miles and tallied up even more memories within the walls/windows of that Ford Windstar. It took us to Washington D.C., Florida, on countless trips to Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and St. Louis. And all around this beautiful state of Michigan. It was the vehicle of choice when taking the three not-so-little Piggins on college visits and then hauling their worldly goods to the college they chose from those visits. It was easy to distinguish from every other white mini-van because there were bumper stickers from those colleges and also a couple from their high schools! It took the three not-so-little Piggins to golf matches, baseball and football games, auditions and rehearsals. It has held the golf team and members of the band, honors choir, quiz bowl, youth group and countless other configurations of groups. And

In the past couple weeks in Bible Study Fellowship (Bsf), we have been deep into the Book of Revelation, Chapters 21 and 22. In these two chapters, the new heaven comes down to earth and is glorious! Beyond description - even the apostle John's words were sparse for the spectacle he witnessed and that's saying something for this man who wrote and wrote and wrote about what he'd witnessed. He was a simple man who couldn't stop himself from writing about what he saw - and I can relate to that!!! But here he is, seeing heaven coming down to earth - the new earth - and he is so overwhelmed that he can only write 27 descriptive verses. (For you Bible newbies, that isn't much! Heck in the Old Testament there are some chapters with over 100!) I can only imagine (cue the Mercy Me song) what he saw because he gave a sparse description. But it's because the description is sparse that I know with every fiber of my being that it was incredible. Have you ever seen somethin

I have a few observations from my recent road trip to St. Louis: ~     Billboard advertising , especially along the I94/I80 corridor consists mainly of advertisements for strip clubs, truck stops, casinos, personal injury/bankruptcy attorneys and McDonald's.       The strip clubs are often referred to as 'gentlemen's clubs' and I wonder why because I don't think the men glaring at nearly-naked young women and shoving dollar bills down the dancer's g-strings, are gentlemen. According to Webster's the definition of a gentleman is " a chivalrous, courteous, or honorable man".       And truck stops are at nearly every exit along this corridor- some offer showers. Maybe to shower off after a visit to the 'gentlemen's club'?       Casinos - there  were billboards for three in Northern Indiana, six in the Chicago area and four in Michigan. I'm not very good at math, and used a calculator to check my addition, but that's 13 places

Look at that face! I mean, just look at that face. So sweet, so adorable, so innocent. And so Black Lab. But, he's a deceiver - that Wally Piggins. Because he is sweet and adorable but he is also not just Black Lab and he is definitely not innocent!! He is part Bloodhound. And it's the part of him that's not innocent. It's the part of him that can smell:           ~ An open jar of peanut butter within 30 seconds and from as far away as 50 feet;                     ~ An unattended  loaf of asiago cheese bread or bagel (ASB) whenever he feels he has been slighted or I have gone into the shower.  There was a time when Wally would smell the jar or ASB on the counter and just jump up to retrieve it, run to another room and devour the treat. We would scold him and send him to his kennel/home (kind of like a time-out chair for dogs). After a year or two of this, he would take the contraband right to his kennel where he would devour only a portion. This is wh