I have two amazingly beautiful daughters.  One is twenty-five, married, soon to be an elementary school teacher, my other daughter is twenty-three and has gone through more pain in her life than anyone I know.

We all have a connection with our moms.  Some have more connection than others, but most of us have a connection.  I've always been close to my mom, not that we didn't fight, we did fight, like cats and dogs.   The fighting was part of our connection.  My mother was very outspoken and she didn't care who you were and if she had somethin

A lifetime ago, I co-owned and ran a popular French Bakery on Fidalgo Island. Those were days of much activity, many faces, frantic schedules and not near enough time to sit and reflect. Add to that the fact that I was seemingly always either pregnant or nursing and you will get a pretty good idea of my semi-constant level of overwhelm.

Hours and hours in a car.

No iPods allowed.

Last summer, my children went on a fabulous vacation with their Dad. They called me often, telling me of all the great things they had done that day, describing to me the restaurants where they had eaten, the fancy hotels where they had stayed and how much fun they were having with it all.

They will say there is nothing wrong. That is what they always say. They will run with the facts that comfort them in their analysis, those they can touch, see and measure. They will avoid their own discomfort by staying far from the grey zones, where numbers do not stick.

I think, No I know that one of the saddest moments in a friendship is having to stand back and watch a friend go through something that is truly painful.

There was a wild child who had very somber, strict parents who did everything they could think of to tame her but nothing worked. They tried coaxing, pleading, distracting, and punishing her but she just got wilder. They didn't understand her at all. And she didn't understand them.

Seed to stem

Sprouting, nimble