I was still stunned from being told two days before that I had colon cancer! How could that be even possible? Life as I knew it ceased with that one diagnosis, and I knew that from now on, there would be "Regina before cancer" and "Regina after cancer." Two very different people destined to live... Continue Reading →
I Love the Music of Garth Brooks! There, I Said It!
When I look at the young people in our church, my heart sometimes hurts for them, mainly because they are stuck between two worlds, neither of which they fully understand. They are young, so they want to conform to the activities of their age cohorts, but, so often, the adult Christians in their lives expect... Continue Reading →
Wanted: Compassionate Hearts
I am always amazed at the huge capacity of some people to feel pity, sympathy, and concern for the misfortunes and sufferings of others. They possess what I call "compassionate hearts." If you have ever been bullied or harassed, then you may understand better what I mean by the term. Remember that person who stood... Continue Reading →
The Great Creator: Psalm Wednesday
Standing on the beach, staring out at the Pacific Ocean or the Atlantic Ocean, I am always awed by the immensity of the oceans, and I am fascinated that every day, the tides come and go on a set schedule, meaning that there is order in at least one part the world. In Muir Woods... Continue Reading →
Climbing Out of the Darkness
I have dark days. My husband can sometimes detect that something is off with me, but, more likely, I have to tell him that I am having a bad day, and that I need to be left alone to deal with it. I still shop, clean, and do my job. I just feel like I... Continue Reading →
Too Old? Too Old? Rubbish, My Dears!
Sitting in a Sociology class on family and marriage with a group of twenty-somethings, one young woman suddenly asked me how I managed to make all As on my exams and papers. I told her that because I started college at age 36 and had been raising children for 25 years, I had lived everything... Continue Reading →
Going Where No One Knows Your Name
In 1998, I was sitting alone at a table in a nice restaurant in Madrid, Spain, preparing to eat lunch, when a Spanish man invited me to join him and his wife for lunch. I was hesitant, because I was alone in Madrid, and I did not know how to relate to other people, always... Continue Reading →
Freedom: 28 Days to Sanity
A stay in a mental hospital puts one's life in perspective. Twenty-eight days of intense counseling, multiple medicines with horrendous side effects, and the company of people who are as lost in their own worlds as you are in yours will change your priorities quickly. Time locked away from the rest of the world, especially... Continue Reading →