I have never lost an animal. Losing as in sending a beloved pet beyond the Rainbow Bridge to frolic and sniff dog butts for eternity until they meet their humans again. Just lucky, I guess. So why have I been crying my eyes out over the passing of a dog that I didn’t even know? Maybe it’s because our Madison turns 14 tomorrow. It’s a fact that dogs age faster than humans. You can’t protect them from time. But you try. For now, the dog causing my sadness is Pluto. Not the big goofy Disney pooch. The other Pluto. The “talking” mini-Schnauzer who gained worldwide fame on YouTube encouraging people to stay…
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Don’t be like a bee
Dear reader, I pride myself in writing original material for my Heart Matters Blog. But last week, I received a stellar piece of writing in an email. I laughed, cried and found more clarity after reading it than I’ve felt in, well, about two years. With apologies to author Anne Lamott, who turns 68 on Sunday, here’s my slightly revised/cribbed version of her piece: I am going to be 62 in three days, if I live that long. I’m optimistic. Mostly. God, what a world. What a heartbreaking, terrifying freak show. It is completely ruining my birthday plans. I was going to celebrate how age and the grace of myopia…
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This guy
This guy. He helped save me twice. We met more than 20 years ago to discuss my course of treatment for “something behind my heart.” I was 41. He was, I know now, just three years my senior. This guy seemed older, but not because of some avuncular demeanor with big ears or errant nose hairs. Short, tanned and handsome, he treated me more like a sister than a stranger. He cared. This guy wasn’t just my cardiologist. He was warm, funny and downright silly at times. He wore kindness on the sleeve of his white coat. Unlike some doctors, he never seemed to take himself too seriously, except when…
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‘We’re dying here’
All he needed was 16 minutes to bring down the House – and the Senate, for that matter. In his Wednesday morning address to the U.S. Congress, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave the performance of his life. But for this former comedian, there was nothing funny about his familiar plea used by stand-up comics the world over: We’re dying here. Dressed in his trademark military-issue army green T-shirt and seated next to a Ukrainian flag, Zelensky spoke through an interpreter. He methodically explained how Russia was attacking his country’s right to live free. His people are dying, he said, and he needs help to stop it. Now. Unshaven yet unquestionably a…
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‘Testa dura’
It’s been 10 days since I tripped over my own feet trying to pick up a loose ball on the pickleball court. The bump on my forehead’s still a bit sore and my shiner’s more lavender than purple but not nearly as bad as it was – or could have been. The pickler gods were watching over me. Or maybe I’m just very lucky. Talk about March coming in like a lion. It’s not often you witness someone doing a face-plant into a hard (read: concrete) tennis court, not the elegant grass of Wimbledon or forgiving clay of the French Open. Nope, I landed hard and fast on my head,…
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Three Ws and an H
In journalism school, prospective reporters and broadcasters learn how to construct a news story using essential elements called “the five Ws and the H.” These useful tools are six basic questions reporters should ask to make sure they have covered all the bases: who, what, when, where, why and how. Who knows what’s taught now. “Hmm, let’s make a TikTok video using all 26 letters of the alphabet.” (Insert eye-roll emoji here.) Since it’s the last Saturday in February, I’m doing a blog post roundup using a variation on the five Ws and the H theme. At this moment, I’ve only got three Ws. But I’m retired and can blame…
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‘Nerdle’
With Valentine’s Day upon us, I thought I’d post something about love. By that, I mean Wordle, the online word game that has taken the planet by storm. Wordle is one of the few good things to emerge from the pandemic, other than embracing our natural hair color, finding more creative ways to celebrate birthdays, and giving educators and health care workers the praise they have deserved all along. According to a New York Times story headlined “Wordle is a Love Story,” Brooklyn-based software engineer Josh Wardle designed the game after he and his wife, Palak Shah, began playing the paper’s spelling bee and crossword puzzles regularly after the pandemic began. Wardle…
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Brisket, beavers and bathrooms
Somewhere on I-75 South in Georgia – The first sign of trouble appeared on a billboard near Calhoun, about 70 miles north of Atlanta. A colorful roadside ad featured what looked like a smiling, cartoonish chipmunk with a black background and this screaming-yellow message: “BUC-EE’S … A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME.” Rebecca: “Ever heard of Buc-ee’s?” Me: “Nope. Maybe they bought Stuckey’s.” Rebecca: “Yeah, right. Buc-ee’s bought Stuckey’s. Funny.” Then another billboard: “BUC-EE’S … BEAVER NUGGETS!” Me: “Guess it’s a beaver and not a chipmunk.” Rebecca: “Yeah, definitely a beaver.” It’s a quiet ride for a few more miles. Then, yet another sign: ‘BUC-EE’S … ALWAYS OPEN. 165 MILES.’” Me: “That’s wrong on so many levels.” A few…
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All Greek to me
What to do about omicron, a COVID-19 variant that is monstrously more infectious than delta, its predecessor, yet somewhat milder in symptoms? I have no idea. As the recent target of this slippery foe’s unwanted advances, I can tell you this: Don’t catch it. After countless weeks of skyrocketing case numbers, new data shows sharp declines over the past week. The omicron surge, like you-know-who’s hairline, is receding. Omicron. Sounds like an underground progressive metal band, around since 2014, based in Hong Kong. Which, it is. (Truly. I don’t always make stuff up.) Says the quartet’s guitarist Li Heng Chan in Rolling Stone: “Whether for the right or wrong reasons, we’ve…
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Positively optimistic
This week, I planned on blogging about Betty White, who would have turned 100 years old on January 17. She died peacefully in her sleep on New Year’s Eve after suffering a mild stroke on Christmas Day. A sad way to end yet another tough year. Seemed everyone was hoping she’d hang on just a little longer. Ahead of her centennial year, Betty opened up to People magazine on how she was feeling about turning 100. It was weird seeing the magazine’s gushing cover grace store aisles after she had passed. No. 1 rule of good journalism: Don’t write something as if it has happened when it actually hasn’t. (See Chicago Tribune, Nov.…
