Everyday miracles

We had just gotten back from a chemo-pump-disconnect appointment at the infusion clinic when my husband got a text telling him our flight the next morning was canceled. My diagnosis makes each trip to visit our son’s family poignant and pressing. It’s not only wondering “Will I feel good enough to travel?” but also “Will…

Warrior spirit

In between the first and second years at West Point, cadets head to Camp Buckner for field training — “the best summer of your life.” Recondo (RECONnaissance commanDO) was a multi-day limits-testing experience with bivouacking, patrolling, maneuvering in the dark, and survival lessons. Not to mention mountaineering, digging foxholes, defending positions, poncho rafts, chicken-killing, and…

Spirit missions & soul sisters

When I wrote to my West Point women classmates about my sense of disbelief after receiving what seemed like a surreal diagnosis, I described it as feeling like I had been “abducted by aliens.” I looked the same on the outside, but covert cells with evil intentions had invaded. West Point cadets would occasionally plan…

Magical realms

I’m not as big a fan of Harry Potter books as my grandchildren, but I do know that Harry was orphaned and relegated to sleeping in a cupboard under the stairs. After his parents were murdered, Harry’s mother’s sister grudgingly agreed to raise her nephew. While Harry had a place to live with his aunt…

Through the looking glass

Since September, I’ve been like Alice in Wonderland: “It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.” Lewis Carrol’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was written for children but there’s plenty to keep adults engaged and entertained. In one chapter, Alice shrinks and grows; however, no matter if she’s giant or…