To me, a family’s traditions are the glue that keeps the family intact, and breaking a long-held tradition is akin to ripping off a bandage. It stings – a whole lot at first – and leaves a red mark that reminds you of that sting for some time thereafter. I’m a faithful advocate for tradition, probably more than any other member of my immediate family. Yesterday, Easter Sunday, that same cerebral sting remained with me for almost the entire day. For as long as we’ve lived in

What do you do when you realize your dream will never come true? When my husband and I were young, we dreamed of traveling the world. But there was one big problem preventing that from happening. We had no money. When we got married, we had just begun our careers and had some college debt to pay back and needed to buy a car and a few other amenities that freshly married couples need, so we were happy to honeymoon in New Orleans and take a few overnight road trips here and

As my grandsons’ squabble increased in intensity, my husband and I looked at each other, sighed, and telepathically communicated the same message: “I’m too old for this.” We are among the millions of American grandparents raising grandchildren, whose numbers, according to statistics, are increasing dramatically every year. How did this societal change evolve? For us and probably 90% of other grandparents raising grandchildren, it came about because our child simply gave up

Why I marched On January 21st, 2017, my granddaughters and I met my daughter and her friends on the capitol grounds in Austin where we participated with fifty thousand others in The Women’s March on ATX. I really didn’t know exactly what to expect, but as my granddaughters and I rounded the corner on Congress, and I spied the cheering crowds gathering on the capitol lawn, I was moved to tears at the magnitude of this event. I have conservative friends, even a conservative