My son’s anniversary is coming up. There were many years when his father and I could only talk through attorneys, but eventually we each settled into our messy lives and moved forward. Nicholas married a girl from Wisconsin and so all of the Hawaii family arrived in the dead of winter for the wedding. January 2 in Wisconsin is typically cold and that year it was zero degrees but at least there wasn’t much snow as I remember. Yes, I wore open-toed sandals. A few months before the big event we had a dinner at our home. It was an interesting guest list including my current husband, Gary, my two sons, their father, their father’s former girlfriend and the mother of his daughter who was also there, and their father’s current girlfriend. But despite the unorthodox gathering by most people’s standards it worked and we laughed and talked and shared [...]

This has not been the best of years, but it certainly has not been the worst.  This is a story that happened decades ago, but as people are finding it harder to afford food for their families with the rising inflation it seems a good reminder about what the miracles that are still being performed today. As a single mom, I panicked every month when bill paying time reared its ugly head.  How could I spread so little money so far?  It was routine for my children to preface each request for whatever they wanted or needed to buy with, "Mom, I know you don’t have the money but " and I grew increasingly frustrated at having to say no. I vividly remember one harried day.  Everything that could go wrong went wrong from the moment I awoke.  That afternoon, I heard the phone ringing as I rolled into the [...]