AnneLyze

As Sam was growing up, I frequently shared the newspaper with him and discussing what we read was a common mealtime practice. But when Sam went to college so went my news mate.  Now I attempt to share interesting articles with Ben and it’s proven to be the highlight of our day when I do. On Monday in zero degree weather, Ben and Denis had the bright idea to run 2 miles outside in T shirts and shorts. Denis even went shirtless for a while. Ben and his friends thought it was pretty funny. Later in the week when I shared with him a blurb I read on the Internet about a woman whose eyeballs froze while ice skating, he replied, “jeez Mom, just relax, it was funny”. Somehow I think if I had found an article about a man freezing his penis off, it might have made a bigger impression. Tuesday during the news, I shushed him so I could listen to the local broadcast. At the mention of a winter storm, he shushed me back, informing me that it was important. When the weatherman ...

When I was a kid growing up in rural NH, I belonged to 4H. It was the thing to do and I joined even though I was not the least bit interested in livestock or anything farm like. But I did enjoy learning how to sew and I still sew even now. In the kitchen of the Kimball farmhouse I learned the basics. For knitting I went to a little yarn shop where Mrs. Droilet volunteered her time to teach girls to knit. I was awful at it and never made it past the one inch by one inch square and I quickly put down my knitting needles to play outside. I had no desire to knit again until just recently. One of my chemotherapy patients, coming in for weekly treatment, sparked my interest with her loom knitting. That was something I could do and before I knew it an obsession was born. First I bought a Knifty Knitter loom at Wal Mart and one skein of yarn. It took three tries to figure it out, but I finally did and I made a scarf. It was full of mistakes. Then, following family tradition, I bought a book ...

Today is Martin Luther King’s birthday. Monday, we as a nation, observe and honor this great man who fought so hard for equal rights. To honor him I have put together a list of new dreams that if alive, he might also hope for. I have a dream that equal, quality health care will be available for all Americans, not just for those who can afford it, work the system or understand it. Mental health must be included. I want all homeless men, women and children be given the same attention, care and opportunities that You Tube sensation Ted Williams (the man with the golden voice) has gotten. According to HATAS, there is an estimated 1800 homeless children in Albany alone. I have a dream that gun control be changed so that kids can’t kill themselves while playing with an Uzi at a Gun Fair, that mentally ill people can’t go on a shooting spree at a strip mall, and drug dealers don’t have machine guns. People much smarter than me, need to make this work and still maintain our constit...

Christmas Eve 1988, I was staying with my mom in NH, when she called my sister, Martha and I together. She had something to share. I don’t remember how she started or even if she was crying, but I will never forget her story. It was and continues to be one of the most important moments in my life. The summer my mother turned 21, she discovered she was pregnant. She was a student at Keene State Teachers College in Keene, NH. After telling her parents, she was placed in a home for unwed mothers in Boston, Massachusetts. The twins were born on January 4, 1954 and they were put up for adoption. She named them Deborah and David. The next time she saw either of them was in 1988. The night she told us, I laid awake for long time thinking about the twins and all that my mother had gone through. The panic, isolation, shame and heartbreak were still present and palatable as she talked about her pregnancy and their birth. I tried to put myself in her shoes. It must have been a hard time for ...

Three years ago I made not only the best New Year’s resolution ever, but the only one I’ve ever kept. I was no longer going to buy books, but go to the Public Library instead. I have never regretted my decision and I have saved a ton of money and space in my home. I am a prolific reader and average about fifty books a year. The first time I opened the door to the Library I knew I was home. Books everywhere and I could read anything I wanted, and if I didn’t like it, I could just return it. Life is too short to read a bad book. In the winter I’m a bit of a hermit and can easily read two books in a weekend. My timing was good because the city was starting to revamp the Libraries. I was a regular at The Delaware Ave branch and it desperately needed help. Located in an old strip mall, it was cramped and didn’t have many books. The new Delaware Ave Branch is wonderful, twice the books and great windows bringing in light. You forget it used to be a funeral home. My favorite books in 201...