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Patty and I recently chatted across her table on her back patio as she told me about being a female partner at a prestigious accounting firm in Chicago, and she had something on her mind.

Patty is very successful, especially for a woman in a male-dominated industry.

“Almost every industry is male-dominated,” she interjected, “so there’s really no need to make the distinction.”

Point taken.

Patty agreed to meet with me in person to answer my survey entitled “How to be an Amazing … [Read more...] about Do you know what esprit de l’escalier means?

(This is a special blog, based on the lay sermon I gave at my church on May 5, 2024 about the need for prison reform for older prisoners who are ineligible for parole in IL.)
Last Monday, my husband Bill and I drove to Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet. This maximum security prison is just a little less than 40 minutes from Elmhurst. After a quick stop through McDonald’s drive thru, we took 355 south and exited at Joliet Road.
As we got closer, I saw a water tower with Stateville … [Read more...] about Second Acts

When my dad died in 2019, we were flooded with condolences on Facebook. But there was one thing that permeated so many of them: a few lines of poetry that well-wishers included from various poems they had memorized in Dad’s high school English class, while proudly emphasizing, “I can still recite these lines today, thanks to Mr. Cloud.”
My dad insisted that his students memorize poems together as a class. He’d say: “Repeat after me. ‘Margaret are you grieving over golden grove unleaving?’”
No … [Read more...] about How To Memorize A Poem

I have a favorite pizza place from which my family has been ordering pizzas since 1972—that’s 52 years! I LOVE their pizza. But recently a friend shared a story with me about my favorite joint that left me, well, with a bad taste in my mouth.

It was my friend’s son’s 9th birthday party. The cake was baked and iced, the boys gathered, the pizza ordered.

Two giant-sized ‘zahs with the kids’ favorite toppings were delivered. As Mom and Dad pulled out the side tabs and opened the large … [Read more...] about What Stories Will Others Share About You?

We arrive at the MET’s American Wing fountain around 11:45 AM. We are on a treasure hunt of sorts. What I don’t expect is how emotional this fountain will make me feel.

Our visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art was conceived six months earlier after I discover a gorgeously written book by Patrick Bringley, a security guard who spent ten years working at the Met. A writer by trade, Bringley finds himself adrift and seeking answers after the untimely death of his beloved older brother at the … [Read more...] about One wish for yourself, and then another, just as big, for someone else