It’s one thing to help someone who has fallen on hard times without having done anything wrong. But it’s much harder for me to understand how people can leave their comfort zones to help people who have brought the hard luck on themselves.
I received a letter from a woman named Marilyn Johnson that got me thinking about the amount of ... Read More
My friend, Kristi, said something the other day that made my heart stop for a moment.
But let me back up. Kristi is a one-woman parade: marching band, confetti, the whole works. She walks into the room and brings sunshine and gale-force winds. She has more energy than anyone I have ever met. Anyone. Ever.
Kristi and her husband, Rod, have four ... Read More
I want to follow up on the column I wrote last week about volunteering with your kids.
The day after it appeared in the paper, I got an email from a woman named Karen in Sykeston, N.D. I think she illustrates better than I ever could just how much of a difference one person can make in the lives of others.
“Dear ... Read More
My daughter has decided to quit Girl Scouts. Her best friend left the group and her leader took on another role, so basically my daughter feels like she would have to attend meetings without two of her favorite people.
Half of me is dancing around the house in absolute glee because that means we won’t have to sell any magazines or ... Read More
When I was a little girl, my mom took me shopping for a winter coat. My parents had recently divorced and were still trying to figure out who would pay for what when it came to clothes, shoes and after-school activities.
Wintertime was right around the corner, so my mom and I went to the one department store in town and ... Read More
My heart aches when I see tragedy in this world, especially tragedy that could have been avoided. That’s how I felt the morning of July 7 when I opened the paper and read about the Deutschers, a young couple and their 1-year-old daughter, who were killed the night before in an accident with a drunken driver.
There is plenty to be ... Read More
I’ve found myself wondering lately if a little bit of kindness is enough kindness. If you give someone a little piece of you, but you still have much more to give, does that little piece still count as kindness? Let me explain.
I was walking through the cereal aisle at Walmart the other day when a woman stopped me. She had ... Read More
I was talking on the phone to someone the other day who said something that made me very sad. The woman lives in New York, and I met her (not personally, but on the phone) when she called Diva Connection Foundation looking for help.
Life has been very hard for this woman. She has troubles that I cannot even imagine. She’s ... Read More
I grew up in a small town called Reedsburg, Wis. Although the population was posted on a sign as 5,038, on any given weekend, I would see only six of those people: my mom, dad, brother, sister and two of the neighbor kids who lived a mile down the road.
Every Saturday, I would hop on my bike and pedal my ... Read More
For many area kids (and parents), this has been a very big week.
School started for Fargo Public Schools on Thursday. For my kids, that meant packing and repacking backpacks filled with newly sharpened pencils, crisp brightly-colored folders, and pink erasers that still smell like the manufacturing plant.
It meant running to the mailbox over and over again looking for the letter ... Read More
