I saw a wrestling video this week that I just have to share with you! I am not a wrestling fan, never have been and never will be,but this is not your normal wrestling match. What happens in this short clip is extremely touching. Watch for yourself and see what I mean... Read More

When you think of the word "overdue", typically past-due bills, library books and delayed Amazon Prime packages come to mind. When you add the word "long" to the phrase, as in "long overdue", it is an indication that something was expected to have happened by now and after a prolonged period of time, it still has not happened. Just this week, there were two things reported in the news as being "long overdue." Read More

What do you think of when you hear the words "The Big Ten"? For most, it means the Big Ten Conference, the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States made up primarily of large state universities located in the midwest. There have recently been a lot of conversations in my home surrounding the Big Ten since the University of Notre Dame Men's Ice Hockey Team just joined the conference. Believe it or not, The Big Ten is the governing principle by which I manage my life but it has absolutely nothing to do with sports or midwestern universities! Read More

The weekend after Thanksgiving is when we "deck the halls." I know many people whose tradition is the same as mine. If my sons had their way, the house would be decorated for Christmas immediately after the last trick-or-treater is handed a Snickers bar. They start playing holiday music on November 1st and they start counting down to the moment that I drag the boxes of ornaments and bags of trees (we put up 10 trees) from the storage room in our basement. I am faced with the same dilemma every year. Even though each tree is carefully un-decorated each year, and the ornaments and lights are painstakingly reorganized and stored, there are many strands of lights that inevitably no longer work. What happens to them in those boxes for the 10 months of the year they are in hibernation? Read More

You have heard the slogan for years: "Walt Disney World - The Happiest Place on Earth." It's a great tagline. It ranks right up there with some of the best taglines of all time - NIKE-Just Do It, Kentucky Fried Chicken-Finger Lickin' Good, Wendy's-Where's The Beef?, and Bounty-The Quicker Picker Upper. I am here to tell you that Disney World is actually NOT the happiest place on Earth. Read More

Those three words send tingles up my spine when I hear them. I am not the world's greatest flyer. Ask anyone who has flown with me or has had the unfortunate opportunity to sit near me. It's not just that I have my rosary beads out and my Holy Water vial in my lap. I also have a tight grip on the arm of the person sitting in the adjacent seat. If I am in the middle seat, then my white knuckles are firmly gripped on the arms of both of my left-hand side and right-hand side neighbors. When the plane is taking off, my eyes are completely shut and I am leaning back and pulling up as if I am the one flying the plane and holding the throttle. I act as if my leaning and pulling are necessary in order to get the plane off of the ground. When the plane is racing down the runway to achieve the speed necessary for take off, I am tense, tight and stressed the entire time. Instead of feeling relieved when the plane lifts up and takes off, I am left feeling exhausted and completely drained. This whole scenario is a metaphor for life. Read More

When it comes to fiber, there are more ways to eat them than just chomping on some prunes. (Which also totally might not be your thing to begin with.) Read More

Full disclosure: I am a Soccer Mom. I have been one for many years now, complete with the goals all over my yard, the minivan filled with gear, and the garage that could serve as a shoe store with cleats in every size, color and brand. So it will probably come as no surprise that soccer videos capture my attention. The one I saw this week really stopped me in my tracks and I realized after watching it that there is a huge life lesson embedded in there. Watch the video before you read on. Read More

When my sons were toddlers, I developed the concept of "Yes Day" to assist me in my parenting challenges. Every time they asked me a difficult question, (for example, "Can we have ice cream for lunch?", "Is it okay to use our crayons to decorate the walls?', "Can we wear our pajamas to church?"), I always had the same answer "Yes, of course!" even though the real answer to those and their many other outlandish requests was "NO, absolutely not!" Rather than repeatedly saying no to my two little darlings, I opted to instead empower them with my heartfelt and optimistic "YES!" Read More

I really enjoy watching the Sunday Morning News Programs. It is not something I have always been able to do because for many years I have volunteered as a Sunday School Teacher and Mass Minister. The major networks' Sunday morning programs break down the highlights of the past week's happenings, with a focus on the political world. Occasionally they feature a human interest story and this past Sunday, one of those programs showed a video of several Pandas frolicking together at a zoo. It was pure "pandamonium!" Read More