My Friend is Featured in a Book!

Karen Putz has published a new book called The Passionate Lives of Deaf and Hard of Hearing People. Karen has been a role model to me for years so that is reason enough to buy the book. Tina Childress, another person I admire, has her story included in the book which was another reason for me to buy the book. But what got me right over to Amazon.com was reading on Facebook that my friend Jonathan Nicoll was also featured in the book. Way to go, Jonathan!

I got to know Jonathan, who lives in Canada, because he was one of the early readers of my blog. During the summer of 2011, he took a cross-Canada car trip on his own, from Ontario all the way to British Columbia. Returning home, he came through my area and my family and I took him for breakfast at one of our favorite restaurants. It was so fun to get to meet Jonathan in person. He's a very interesting young man who is a teacher for the deaf and hard of hearing. I don't want to tell you too much about Jonathan because I want you to read his story for yourself in Karen's book. And no, you can't borrow my copy. Jonathan has promised to autograph it for me the next time he's in Chicago.

Rusty says, "If I could read, I would buy this book. It features my pal Jonathan as well as famous people like I. King Jordan, Howard Rosenblum, Kathy Buckley, and CJ Jones. There are 24 inspiring people profiled."

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My friend Liz has posted her own review at http://lizsdeafblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/book-review-passionate-lives-of-deaf.html.

Artist Gary Price

I am currently reading a book called The Passionate Lives of Deaf and Hard of Hearing People. I'll be writing more about it soon. But in the meantime, I wanted to share with you about Gary Price, a friend of mine, who is living out his creative dreams.

Last weekend I had the privilege of attending Gary's Meet the Artist exhibit and reception at a local coffee shop. I've known Gary for about 5 years and this was the second exhibit of his I've attended. Gary is very personable and his paintings are colorful and lively. Gary says that his specialty is creating art on canvas or paper, using paint, charcoal, pastel, pencil and collage. You can view his work for yourself online here. He also has a shop on Etsy.

Going to the Edge Coffee House was a fun outing. My husband and I went together as a sort of date last Friday night. He bought a large cup of coffee and I got a delicious chicken salad croissant with a broccoli salad on the side. (That was my dinner as I hadn't eaten yet.) Gary's paintings, priced for sale, were hanging throughout the coffee shop. Gary also had art prints, note cards, and magnets for sale. I purchased his lion magnet (see photo below) for my office because it reminds me of Aslan from the Chronicles of Narnia.

Outside on the patio area of the coffee shop, a musical husband and wife duo were performing. Although we spent most of our time inside with Gary, we did get to hear the last three songs of their final set. It was a relaxing way to end our evening. All in all, it was nice to celebrate the art of talented regular folks.

Photo from The Edge Facebook page

I Want All My Friends to Read This

Today a dear friend handed me an article cut out from Sunday's newspaper. The clipping was a My Turn story by a hard of hearing woman. It began

Imagine yourself in a country where nobody speaks your language. It becomes a necessity to rely on your other senses and hone your powers of observation...Each situation is stressful: Will you be a participant or an observer?

In twelve paragraphs, author Terri Goldstein eloquently describes what life is like for a hard of hearing person, someone who's not deaf but not quite hearing either. She writes about having to plan carefully for social success all the while dreading the inevitable gaffes that are so very mortifying. She even spells out exactly the kind of friend needed to make communication less stressful.

After reading the article, I wrote a quick thank you email to my friend saying, "I wish all of my friends could read it!" Fortunately, they can as the story is available online through the LA Times. I highly recommend this article to you all.

Looking Forward to the New Year 2012

I wonder what 2012 will bring? I'm hoping for some new adventures, but I want to stay closer to home this year. Here are some of the activities I hope to experience this year with family and friends:

• Snowshoeing - I have never tried this winter sport. What's lured me in is that I can rent a pair for $10, go at my own pace along a trail, and then exchange the snowshoes when I'm finished for a large hot chocolate!
• Taking a tour of Quilt Gardens. I have a friend who adores quilting and I love flowers so it seems like a perfect fit for us. I can't wait to photograph these gardens.
• Giving canoeing a second shot but with someone other than my son who refuses to get into a canoe with me again, ha ha. For those who don't know the story of our previous experience, you can read it here.
• Travelling to the Bristol Renaissance Faire in Wisconsin. This is something my husband and I have talked about doing for a long time. I'm hoping to organize it as an outing for my ALDA support group. I think the visual spectacle will be something we deafies can enjoy.
• Participating in the reindog parade, of course.

What are your hopes and dreams or even plans for the New Year?

I'm Thankful for You, Deafies!

I'm using deafies as a term of endearment and as inclusively as possible. Some of the people listed below are hard of hearing, some are deaf, and others hear just fine. But all touched my life in some way this year and deserve a Thanksgiving shout out.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to

ABC Family for airing Switched at Birth.
Andy and Ben, the CODA brothers, for making me laugh.
Ann for joining ALDA and being a wonderful friend.
Bill L. for never giving up on me.
Carol P. for your willingness to drive any distance necessary.
Cleo for your encouraging emails.
DJ for seeing me through a scary time.
Gary for knowing how to get there.
Gene for loving me. I hope you continue to dance.
Gordon for reminding us that silence is golden.
Guy for showing us how to speak up effectively.
Jedediah for starting me on a reading marathon.
Jennifer G. for fitting me.
Jim the Librarian for your entertaining book reviews.
Joe L. for looking out for me.
John N. for Quiet Signs of Love.
Jonathan for stopping on your way home.
Kim for making ALDAcon in Indy happen. You rock, girl!
Linda for hunting elks with me.
Liz for a friendship that gets better and better.
Louise for your generosity and marvelous e-cards.
Marsha K. for believing in me when I had doubts.
Oticon for LA and my Agil Pros.
Rebecca for being the person I would like to be someday.
Sally S. for teaching me about resiliency.
Sixth grade class of Fernando Centeno Güell for giving me a sign name.
Teri S. for being the best project partner ever!
Tess for helping me improve my signing.
When writing a post like this, it's inevitable that someone deserving is unintentionally omitted. So I want to thank ALL of my blog readers for your support of Speak Up Librarian and all the places my blog has taken me this year.
In conclusion, I want to single out three very special people: Jennifer Alberstadt, Dylan Dunlap, and Don Sims - my fellow Oticon Focus on People Awards winners. They inspired me with their stories and I've been looking forward to sharing them with you. I hope you enjoy the following captioned video produced by Oticon.

Happy Thanksgiving, deafies.

Calendar Garden

Entrance to DeFries Gardens, New Paris, Indiana
I visited here with friends this past weekend.

July blossoms

More summer flowers.

The garden layout as seen from the observation tower.

Each day of the year is marked on a brick along the circular
pathway. We enjoyed spotting our birthdays as we walked around.

Most sections of the calendar garden weren't in bloom.

Cone flowers

Black-Eyed Susans

Waterlilies in the center of the garden

An interesting tree stump.

I can just imagine this toad croaking, "Ya'll come back now!"
Indeed, I want to visit here again during other seasons of the year.

London: Meeting Deafinitely Girly

I hope all of you are regular readers of Deafinitely Girly. I find her blog fun to read because of her wonderful sense of humor. She has an extremely active social life and everyone in her life has a descriptive nickname in her blog posts.

I was thrilled when she agreed to meet us at our hotel for dinner one evening. There was one small problem. I didn’t have any idea what she looked like. Deafinitely Girly is very careful about her privacy and doesn’t post any photos of herself on her blog. Fortunately, when we stepped off the elevator and walked towards the hotel lobby, she was waiting for us and cried out a welcoming, “Sarah!!!!!”

We had a wonderful time at dinner. We were able to communicate exceptionally well. DG doesn’t wear hearing aids. She relies on lipreading. Naturally, I always faced her when speaking and enunciated clearly. My son did not. I found myself interpreting for her what he said - when I could understand him myself, that is. He really enjoyed DG’s company and talked a mile a minute earning himself the moniker “The Chatterbox” on her blog post about our meeting.

I enjoyed learning more about DG’s work life and her experiences in the local deaf community. She’s a great conversationalist and I could have listened to her for hours. It was difficult to say goodbye after dinner. We sat in the lobby and talked more and even posed for some photos - which you won’t see here because I gave her my word on that. When it was time to part, she said, “I wished you lived in the same country as me!” and gave me a great big hug.
I knew I had made a friend for life.

London: Meeting Tina (Funny Old Life)

While in London, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Tina aka Funny Old Life. We met on a Sunday afternoon at the Imperial War Museum. I chose this venue because I knew my son would be well entertained exploring the museum on his own while I had a chat with Tina.

I met Tina at the museum's front entrance. I already knew what she looked like from photos and that she'd be accompanied by her service dog, Smudge so it was no trouble to spot her. We went inside to the museum's cafe for a snack where Smudge was a big hit with the other patrons, young and old alike. He was very well behaved settling down on the floor while Tina and I talked.

As you may know if you read Tina's blog I Look So I Can Hear, she got a cochlear implant this spring. I was interested to learn more about how she is doing with it and getting to know her better in general. The two of us were able to communicate quite well. Occasionally we used a notepad when we couldn't understand each other but part of that was due to the different ways we use our common language English. For example, did you know that "getting the mickey out" means to make fun of someone?


After awhile, we left the cafe and visited a tranquil Tibetan peace garden located on the museum grounds. Smudge got to remove his little coat that marks him as a service dog and run free off leash. Soon he met up with another doggie that looked exactly like him but a bit bigger. The two dogs had quite a lot of fun exploring together.

Tina had some interesting stories to tell about her experiences with Smudge. The scariest was that he had recently fallen off the tube station platform. Yikes. The funniest stories were the ones where people misunderstood Smudge's capabilities. For example, once when Tina asked a man for directions, he bent down and told them to Smudge instead of her!

I really enjoyed hearing Tina talk about her interest in photography. It was marvelous to get to know her better and our time together was all too short. I truly hope our paths will cross again. Until then, we'll be keeping in touch online.


If you'd like to know more about Smudge, check out his blog Just Smudge.

Meeting Liz in London

Liz and Sarah
Kensington Gardens

I first got to know Liz through her blog about two years ago. We started emailing each other and having the occasional instant message chat when we'd manage to be online at the same time (despite the six hour time difference). Last year I started creating t-shirt designs and Liz bought two of the shirts and modeled them for my blog. With encouragement from me, Liz took a writing course to pursue her dream of publishing a children's book. Later, she started up an online forum and I immediately joined and had the pleasure of participating in a couple of her contests. By then, we knew we could count on each other for support.

When she contacted me to ask if we could meet up in London during my trip there with my son, I was thrilled. Liz lives about 3 hours by bus from London and this would be her first visit there. I felt extremely honored that she was willing to travel so far to meet me. Not only that, but she would be bringing her boyfriend Richard with her. I was very curious to meet him and see if he was good enough for my dear friend.

We made plans to meet in front of Westminster Abbey. If it turned out to be a nice day, we would walk through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. If it were stormy, we would visit the National Gallery and Portrait Gallery instead.

Charlie and I arrived at our meeting place first. When Liz and Richard walked towards us, I immediately recognized them and greeted Liz with a warm hug. Her boyfriend Richard turned out to be very personable and funny. I was especially impressed by the caring way he treated Liz.

It turned out to be a sunny day and we had a wonderful time walking through the beautiful grounds of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. We spent over 3 hours together, much of it walking. Midway, we stopped for a bite to eat and ate sandwiches under a tree by the Serpentine River. It was fun comparing notes on the differences between England and the United States and learning more about each other's lives.

Richard, Liz, and me
Hyde Park

It was difficult for me to say goodbye to my friend. I told her she was just as I thought she would be and she said the same of me. I look forward to getting to know Liz better through our blogs and emails. I've issued her an open invitation to visit me anytime and to bring Richard with her.

You can read what Liz wrote about our meeting here. For the record, I'd like everyone to know that these photos don't do Liz justice. In person, she has beautiful blue eyes and a lovely fair complexion.

Celebrating My Friend's Milestone

A close friend of mine just purchased her first home. I was so excited for her! This was a major milestone and I knew just how I wanted to mark the occasion. My girlfriend is a huge fan of Jimmy Stewart. So I put together a housewarming gift basket with bread, salt, and grape juice for her along with the home blessing from It's a Wonderful Life on a card. She loved it!

[You can click on a photo to see it larger.]

On Tuesday I took a day off of work to drive out to where she lives and deliver my housewarming basket. I was really excited to see her new home for myself. As I was getting the grand tour, I was pleased to see the cross-stitch gift I had made her last Christmas (to encourage her during her house hunting) prominently displayed in her kitchen.

That was the perfect excuse to bring out my most recent cross-stitch project, finished at 11 p.m. the night before, and give it to her as an early Christmas present. My friend likes Mary Englebreit's style, so I knew she would like this Christmas stocking. It says "All Hearts Come Home for Christmas." My girlfriend took it right out to the living room and showed me how she would hang it on her fireplace come next December.



Then it was time for furniture shopping. My girlfriend wanted me along as "sales person repellant" so she could shop in peace. I had never thought of myself as repulsive but she explained to me that sales people hover over buyers on their own but will leave two or more people in a group alone. That made me feel better... But there was one salesman I just couldn't resist! His name is Teddy and he's a standard poodle who spends his days in a resale shop. See how cuddly and affectionate he is.



After we had been to three stores, we found just what she was looking for in a place we hadn't planned on going to but that was located next to one of the other stores. My friend needed some chairs for her living room. As soon as I saw this one, I just knew it was perfect for her. In fact, I thought perhaps she already owned one like it, the style seemed so familiar. LOL, it turned out to be me that owns the chair - it's in one of my husband's man areas of the house. Anyways, my friend loved the chair and was delighted to find a pair of them on sale for a very reasonable price.

I'm happy to report that my dear friend has bought a home that's just right for her and I look forward to seeing how she decorates it and makes it her own. Thanks for sharing this special day with me via my blog.

The Making of ....a Slight Mistake.

Linda, my very good friend from library school, shared this amusing story with me recently.

She was sitting at the reference desk when a teenager approached her and asked if the library had a book in its collection. She asked him what the title was and thought he responded with "The Making of the Lion King". She hadn't heard of the book before and the thought passed through her mind that it was rather strange that a young man was interested in a Disney children's film...but professional that she is, she went ahead and consulted the library catalog. She didn't find a listing for it.

She asked the young man again and repeated back what she had heard as the title. Apparently he was too polite to correct her. Fortunately for him at that moment her coworker came to take the next shift at the desk. He restated his request to her. Before leaving, Linda told her colleague she had been unable to find "The Making of the Lion King". Suppressing a giggle, her coworker told her the title he was looking for was "The Making of a Latin King." Oops.

Thanks, Linda for reminding me that sometimes even those with excellent hearing make mistakes and allowing me to share your story on my blog.

[For those unfamiliar with the Latin Kings, they are a gang in the United States. Just a bit different than an animated feature film.]

Reflections on Friendships

Over the weekend I finished reading The Girls from Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow. This book really made me think about the value of friendship. The girls in the story are ten childhood friends who have remained close into their mid forties. They've supported each other through the joys and sorrows of the transitions that occur in women's lives including for them careers, marriages, divorces, cancer, and even the death of a child.

I'm different from them in that I haven't stayed close with my childhood or college friends. Recently I've gotten in touch with a few people through Facebook but it's been a long time and it's hard to fill in the empty spaces since high school and now.

I do have a wonderful friend that I met in graduate school that I've stayed in touch with over the years. In 2008 I presented her with a scrapbook chronicling our twenty year history together. She's been through many transitions with me such as career, marriage, and having a child even though her path has been quite different from mine. But we didn't know each other as children and I realize now the difference that makes after reading The Girls from Ames. In the book, one of the girl's father's succumbs to Alzheimers and the condolences that mean the most to her are from her childhood friends who knew him as a doctor and respected member of their community. Her more recent friends could not understand her sorrow in the same way they could.

For me, my unexpected midlife hearing loss has affected my ability to maintain various friendships. I no longer enjoy regular hour long telephone conversations. I crave emails and text messages over phone calls. In place of group gatherings, I prefer a one on one lunch in a quiet restaurant or a private chat in my home or a friend's. At work a quick update in a cubicle is easier for me than having lunch in the noisy cafeteria. I've looked for ways to let my friends know I still care even though I've changed my social habits. I'm not sure I've succeeded there. Reading The Girls from Ames has inspired me to try harder.

How about you? Do you have friends from childhood? Or like me have you put distance from your past? How do you communicate with your hearing friends and maintain ties with them? I'm open to suggestions. I'll leave you with the words to a song I learned as a girl: Make new friends, but keep the old. Some are silver and the others gold.

More Photos from My Friend's Garden

Sunny yellow sunflower

Perfectly pink but what is it called?

Pale pink hollyhock (I think, correct me if I'm wrong.)

An intriguing spotted orange flower but what is it?
Tiger Lily (thanks, Mog)

Hollyhocks

Hollyhocks with bee

Another sunflower variety

These cheerful yellow flowers remind me of daisies
with a cone flower center. Do you know what they are?

Perhaps a Yellow Coneflower Echinacea Hybrid (?)

Yellow dahlia
Yellow Rose (thanks, Mog)

Green Thumb Friend thought it would be fun for you to help identify the names of the flowers that I didn't know. If we're all stumped, I'm pretty sure she'll come through with the info. Meanwhile if you can help me out, please post in the comments. Thanks!

Flowers for Friday: In My Friend's Garden

Pretty in pink: petunias and daisies (?).

Rose: my friend's specialty

Hibiscus - wouldn't you like to tuck that behind your ear?

Lily

Side view of lily

I needed inspiration for this week's post, so I asked my Green Thumb Friend if I could visit her garden and take photos. She graciously agreed.

Sara Chapman will be pleased to know I used my new camera for all these pictures. In case you're wondering, it's a Sony Cybershot. I especially liked this model because it had a 5x zoom and it can take short videos in HD.

Doesn't my Green Thumb Friend have a lovely garden? I'll post more photos soon. I have to learn how to resize them. Forgive me if they took a while to load this time.

ALA: Day Four

Interesting display at McCormick Place

Day Four began with an early morning program on electronic resource management systems. Which lasted for two hours. That really felt like work.

Next I went on to a fun workshop on the topic "Tech Support is Reference Work" about the importance of answering technology questions at the information desk. As usual I had taken a seat near the front so I had to chuckle when one of the speakers proclaimed herself the "loudest librarian in Michigan" and her partner chimed in "or the world". I definitely had no problem hearing her. In my book a loud librarian makes an excellent conference speaker. The two speakers were coworkers and they had a great rapport. They actually had to encourage the audience to leave at the end of their session by saying "Really, we're not that fascinating. Go to lunch already."

Me and Library School Friend

I met a very good friend of mine since library school days for lunch. We scrimped and only paid $5 for a slice of pizza and $2 for pop. This "going to lunch" lifestyle gets expensive. I sure hope our expenses will be reimbursed. In the photo above, we visited the exhibits area briefly before our next workshop.

My final meeting of the day was a panel discussion on Library 2.0 [a buzzword to make librarians seem cool]. One of the speakers was someone I had heard when I went to the Computers in Libraries conference last year. What was most interesting to me was that the speakers commented on how they knew each other through their online activities, particularly their blogs. I know I feel blessed to have "met" many people through this blog.

Look, Ma, I made it to ALA!

Tomorrow's my last day at the ALA conference.

It's the Thought that Counts... or Is It?

I've always heard "it's the thought that counts" but now I'm wondering about that.

Recently a colleague who came back to work after being off a few days for a medical procedure said to me, "Thanks for the card, Sarah." It was an awkward moment as I didn't know what to say. I had certainly thought of buying her a card and sending her get well wishes. But I ...er...hadn't actually... gotten around to doing it.

Assuming someone had sent a group card and signed my name for me, I replied "You're welcome," feeling a twinge of guilt. I've asked around since then and no one will own up to sending such a card. I've even wondered if there could be another Sarah around here who deserves her 'thank you' but is not getting it because she gave it to me by mistake. Surely my coworker wouldn't have said something like that sarcastically as if to say "You should have sent me a card!"

I almost feel like fessing up to her that I didn't (gulp) actually send her a card. But that seems even more awkward. What would you do in this delicate etiquette dilemma?

****Update*****July 2****
Today I found out that someone did indeed send a group card and signed my name for me. Phew! Glad that mystery's solved!

For my online friends

I found this quote on my friendship calendar yesterday and thought how appropriate it was for my online friendships with other deaf and hard of hearing bloggers.

"A friend listens with her eyes and her heart...and understands what you can't put into words."
- Anonymous

Hope you are all having a good weekend!

A Blog Celebration

Come and celebrate with me! I'm tickled pink. The Web Goddess has now dubbed me Blog Diva. Why? Recently my blog's visitor site counter passed 10,000. [imaginary confetti thrown in the air] Okay, some of that number is me working on my blog and replying to comments... but no way have I been to my own blog 10,000 times. On top of that Chad wrote me today that my blog was added to his organization's website. You can see the link here. Whoo hoo! [sound of a party horn]

Party Chatter: Did you know? Jakob Nielsen says ninety percent of all online community participants are lurkers - people who never leave a comment even if they like what they read. "Blogs have even worse participation inequality than is evident in the 90-9-1 rule... With blogs, the rule is more like 95-5-0.1." Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to leave a comment. You are appreciated! [air kisses] To all lurkers, thanks for reading. You are always welcome here. [more confetti is airborne]

Party Favor: Have you ever wondered how to create a link in a Blogger comment? Here's the HTML code you need. Ironically, I tried to write the code out in this blog post but Blogger kept turning my directions into a link. LOL. But here's a tip from me: I find it easy to remember which arrow to use by thinking that the arrow symbols point in towards the word(s) I want to hyperlink.

Delicious Virtual Party Refreshments provided by Kym. Enjoy!

New Year New Me

2008 was a BAD year for me. As some of you may remember I got so down on myself that last summer I deleted my blog. Fortunately I came to my senses and resurrected it as I truly enjoy blogging and actually find it therapeutic at times. Unexpectedly, 2008 contained difficult family estrangements and stressful challenges and changes at work. One of the toughest lessons I had to learn was that someone I thought was my true friend was not. I was deceived and taken in by a manipulative liar. Naturally this was apparent to everyone but me. Arrgh. My self esteem plummeted.

I am truly grateful that 2008 is behind me. Of course not all of it was bad. In fact, many of the good times have been chronicled here on my blog where they can be reread and relived. And it's here on my blog that I want to share my special mantra for 2009: TO LIVE OUT LOUD AND NOT FALL SILENT. I found it in the last sentence of this blog post by Kim and realized it resonated with me.


This photo is of a Smiley Snowman posed on top of my computer tower in my work cubicle. I bought him for someone else but couldn't bear to part with him. He really brightens my day with his smile.

Fortunately, I have a circle of genuine friends who I appreciate now that I understand their true worth. One of these dear women gave me a belated Christmas present for my desk at work: a miniature calendar with a daily quote related to friendship. I found one so apropos that I taped it to my computer moniter so I can see it throughout my workday. I just have to share it with you.

My friend, if I could give you one thing, I would wish for you the ability to see yourself as others see you. Then you would realize what a truly special person you are. - B.A. Billingsly

Isn't that lovely? That's what a true friend does for you. Gives a gift to help you heal. I also bought myself a gift - a devotional by Joyce Meyer entitled New Day, New You. Each page has a short scripture verse with some inspirational thoughts for the day. For me reading it is taking a baby step back towards faith and light and hope. I'm really hoping for a better year. I know it all revolves around my taking better care of myself and making the right decisions and actions.


I wish you all peace of heart in 2009!

I'm the Answer to a Trivia Question!

My good friend Sheri and me at the Homeschool Reunion

This past weekend I had an opportunity to attend a reunion of a homeschooling group I was a member of a few years back. It was great to see people I haven't seen since my full-time return to the workforce. Fortunately the moms looked familiar although it was hard to remember some names. But, wow, the kids have changed so much. Luckily, I had thought ahead and brought a photo of my son so they could see how he had grown too.

I had thought the event was going to be for socializing open house style but actually there were speeches and recognition awards planned. Several speeches and then an open mike time where anyone could come forward and share a memory. Finally two hours into the event, food was served and the informal socializing could begin.

While waiting to eat, I was tickled when I looked over the trivia quiz tucked inside our programs and found the following question: Who was the brave mom who used to run with our kids during the Presidential Fitness testing? Hey, that was me.... I remember that I dressed up in an American flag shirt and carried a "torch" with red, white, and blue streamers and ran alongside the kids to encourage them. None of them wanted to run slower than a mom so I was a good motivator and a big hit with the moms looking on from the sidelines. It was fun but I had to take Tylenol for a week afterwards.

The best part of Saturday's gathering was seeing my good friend Sheri again! She has a daughter my son's age and we were very close during my homeschooling days. Back then we shared a lot of laughs and a few tears and many hugs. It was good to catch up a little and promise not to let so much time go by before getting together again.

In this photo from years gone by, Sheri and I were unpacking cookie dough containers we sold as a fundraiser. Sheri was also the answer to a trivia question: Who sold the most cookie dough? It's good to be memorable. I think...