I had a big brother. His name was Bill. He is gone now, but when he was alive, he was a great big brother. As a little girl and as a grown woman, I always knew he was there for me. Everyone needs a protectorEveryone needs someone who is there for them, no matter what.Someone...
Category: Biography
Women! I want to hear your voices
I am writing my memoir about living in a Nigerian village for nine months. They pulled my support system out from under me while I was there. I also met a young British graduate student living in the home of a traditional carver, who also had her support system stopped while she was in the...
Conquering My Addiction to Food
Since I was a child, I have been addicted to carbohydrates- the higher the glycemic index, the better. Corn on the cob was a favorite. If they served it as part of a meal, that was all I ate. I ignored the rest of the meal they served. Potatoes, fried rice, breads of all kinds...
A Tribute to my Friend, Doris Rossini
A tribute to a kind and generous woman. Doris Rossini. May she rest in peace.
The “Little Way” of Saint Therese
I was in high school when I first read The Story of a Soul. I was unimpressed. I was more interested in saints who did great deeds of valor. Therese, on the other hand, did small, mundane, everyday things. Things no one would notice or comment about. She was simply behaving in a quiet, unassuming,...
Open Mouth Insert Foot: The Confusing World of Political Correctness
Apparently, I am obtuse about many things, especially when interacting with men. I am constantly in trouble with the things that I say. Incident #1:I once had an immensely helpful and friendly neighbor. It was he who welcomed me into the neighborhood, stopped in to chat, helped with things I could not do. One day...
St Teresa of Avila. The Early Years
Dona Teresa de Ahumada y Cepeda (1515-1582), better known as St Teresa of Avila, is one of the giants of the Catholic Church. Her descriptions of her relationship to “His Majesty,” as she called Jesus, are so deep and intense, that only those who have achieved great spiritual growth understand them. It was Teresa and...
An introduction to G. K. Chesterton by Dale Ahlquist: A Synopsis
A genius and a giant in literature, G. K. Chesterton is almost entirely neglected today. He is rarely quoted or studied, yet his works are monuments to logical, everyday common sense. A convert from atheism to the thinking and beliefs of the Catholic faith, he did not actually become a Catholic until after he had...
Four famous Catholic saints named Teresa
The Catholic Church has the custom of honoring certain individuals who have lived lives of great piety and virtue or for the heroic act of martyrdom. Christianity is a difficult religion to follow. So much of what Jesus taught is extremely challenging to practice day in and day out, consistently, for years. Those individuals, who...
Rebecca “Becky” Self: Her Story
My family called Rebecca Self, Auntie Billie. She was not a blood relative but she was such a close friend to my parents, it seemed too formal to call her “Mrs. Self.” Becky Self was an army nurse. During World War II, she and her husband, Leonard, were imprisoned with us in Cebu and Manila...
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