A Beautiful Gift Arrives In the fall of 1983, I lived in a nice-sized three-bedroom home in a southwestern suburb of Denver. My father, a general residential contractor, had built many homes in the neighborhood. My then-husband and I purchased this house in 1979 while I was pregnant with my son, Kasey. It was […]
Shining Beautiful at 40! Read More »
Tradition Every year is different, yet the same during the holidays. Tradition abounds at the Shining Beautiful household. So Mikelle’s annual holiday party is not to be missed. Except for last year when holiday parties took a COVID hiatus. Even this year, the darn virus threatens to disrupt as the Omicron mutation grows. But, thrice
Part Two Exhaustion Sets In In last month’s blog post, Mikelle and I lamented that we are still in the middle of a staffing crisis ourselves. Since then, I have met with other parents experiencing some version of this crisis in their own families. Compounding our situation are life challenges like parental surgeries and
Two years ago, Mikelle and I felt pretty comfortable living in her downtown condo. We had a solid team of support for Mikelle. Her life was fascinating. She navigated her community like a celebrity. I had the freedom to support her when needed and have projects of my own and the opportunity to socialize and
Back to the Future? Read More »
Typically, each year we celebrate Mikelle’s birthday at Cheeseman Park. We have been doing this for so long I actually can’t think of the last time we didn’t celebrate there. We celebrated her 29th birthday when the temperature roared by 105 degrees. We celebrated in down coats and gloves with rain drizzles in 59 degrees
Birthdays, Community and COVID Read More »
Creating Community in the Time of Social Distancing. Mikelle looks longing out our second-story window reminiscing about the days when her routine included a trip down the street to the neighborhood coffee shop. There she gets her people and caffeine fix. This is her well-loved routine. Pablos in the morning, perhaps, a Starbucks in
Wait! What Happened to Our Community? Read More »
Fifteen years ago, a thoughtful high school teacher introduced Mikelle Learned and Jerome Stewart, she had a hunch these two might become the best of friends. She was right. Jerome played football, ran track and was a well-liked senior at East High School. He, like Mikelle, was a recent transfer student from another high school.
Soul Mates. A Story of Love and Friendship Read More »
Many of you, who came of age in the 1970s like me, remember being inspired by a television commercial. It was a Coca Cola commercial, where a lighted candle appears on the screen, and we see a young, beautiful woman singing, “I’d Like the World to Sing in Perfect Harmony,” the camera pans out. We
From the time our children are born, we worry about where they will live when they become adults. What will their lives be like? We have a few answers. Doing nothing only kicks the can down the road. It is time to start exploring your options. Let’s discover a vision and assist your son or
Mom to Mom. The Importance of Having a Vision. Read More »
A little prevention and preparation will improve your child’s school performance this year. By the time you read this blog post, school will have started in your community. Fresh school supplies are beginning to show some wear, and once clean backpacks are starting to collect small items portending a favorite place to stuff “things” in
Having Morning Meltdowns and Homework Headaches? Read More »
