Six Tips for Surviving the Holiday Season When a Loved One Has Dementia Normally, Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday, a time our family gathered together at my Kansas City home. But that November, my stomach clenched at the thought of our traditional Thursday evening meal. My mother had Alzheimer’s and the holiday would be different. I felt alone but of course I wasn’t: there were 15 million family/friend caregivers helping the five million Americans who have dementia. I’d been through my initial storm of denial and grief. I felt I’d been coping we ...continued...

I was born in Torrance California April 14, 1956 to Clara Louise Bryce and Richard Dwayne Mouritsen if I remember correctly I was zero days old I was 10 lbs. 13 oz. and they took the picture of me that was hideous. I actually do have the picture somewhere and it ended up in my medical school yearbook and can be found there. It turns out that all babies look almost the same which biologically make sense since at about 12 or 13 weeks you can't tell the fetus of the human from the fetus of a chicken but as the tail reabsorb it starts to take on a more ...continued...

Chapter One Dana Gerard’s pulse quickened as she scanned the horizon. The sky glowed the murky greenish-gray color of a bruise, and a menacing wall of clouds rolled in the distance. She knew a possibility of rain had been forecast, and she’d been hoping for a good, steady shower – the kind that sank in deeply, nourishing farmers’ crops, one that would wash away the dirty browns of winter and give life to the budding tulips and iris that had just begun to dot her neighborhood. But that scenario seemed unlikely now. These clouds carried an ominous threat. Pulling he ...continued...

i don't sing at birthdays I pedaled my Schwinn Autocycle along the gravel road beside the Waterman's south pasture. The rutted road rattled the front fender almost enough to drown out my rendition of Gloria in Excelsis Deo. Almost, but not quite. Four of Charlie Waterman's cows standing by the fence-line mooed in tune to my song. I switched to Christ the Lord Is Risen Today near the intersection of the gravel and paved roads. Two lanky, flop-eared, black-and-tan hounds crawled out from under the front porch and added their howls in accompaniment. They ...continued...

As Mark Twain once said, “there has never been an uninteresting life.” Hi Rolland,
Wanted to let you know that I have gotten your cousin Wave started writing her life story. I just have a few pages going but that is a start, isn't it? I thought I would send them to you when I get further along, this way you can tell me if ...continued...

PROLOGUE Claire shook the spray of liquid from her hand, laughing. “Jeez, take it easy. I didn’t realize you’d already been drinking.” She checked the glass for signs of damage before lifting it to her lips. Mary’s toast carried liberal enthusiasm. “In your honor, babe.” Mary leaned forward. “Seriously, Claire. This is fabulous. You nailed it.” Claire grinned. “About time, too.” After months of wishy-washy deliberation, the Whitfield Library Board had finally agreed to launch a capital campaign to raise mon ...continued...

Our 42 hour confinement to our tents was ended today as the storm eased up enough for us to continue north. Our drift over the storm took us further west than we wanted to the 129th Longitude. We ran into many open leads and had to wait until the ice moved back together allowing us to cross. It was incredible to witness and very scary to cross. We gained about 5 miles north today but our progress was halted by thin ice. We made camp and will wait till morning to try and cross. Needless to say that in the north polar icecap there is very little to smell. No plants and so few animals a person ...continued...

Men invigorated by march - About 300 KC participants in Washington rally return with a messege,... By mister | Posted May 28, 2011 | Kansas City, Missouri <div id="producer-note-block" style="display: ...continued...

Our message meet again... And he ask me if what will be my decision about our relationship... I think if love is true then it will fall in the perfect place... I miss him and love him since the day we become us... ...continued...

Out-back in the Wallangie Bush by Pamela Boles Eglinski The sign read CLOSE THE GATE BEHIND YOU. I heard the telltale click and knew I’d entered another world – the Australian bush country. A small caravan of off-road four-wheel drives labored over parallel ruts in the red earth. “Easy to get lost if you fall behind,” Charlie said, pulling hard on the wheel, trying to skirt a jagged mound of rock. From the back seat, I sucked in air and held tight to the handgr ...continued...

I went to about a dozen elementary schools from Kindergarten through 8th grade, though I skipped a full year. Many of them in and around Chicago, primarily the south side, but also in Big Rapids Michigan and Hollywood, Florida. We were not a military family, nor were either of my parents climbing any kind of corporate ladder, but we moved around even more than most of those kinds of families. We moved mostly because the rent and or utility bills were due. Sometimes we moved because the landlord found out really how many kids or dogs or adults we had in the house. Funny we usuall ...continued...

I attended the International Coffee Hour hosted by the Inclusive Excellence Center on campus this past Thursday 3/30. This International Coffee Hour featured food and coffee drinks from Colombia including Colombian coffee, Enyucado (a cake type of dessert), and Afajor (dulce de leche flavored cookies). A group called AIESEC was presenting on their work around the world. AIESEC is a group that provides students with opportunities to travel abroad and work in volunteer or internship type jobs while living with a family or another group of students. These students help bet ...continued...

Ellen Morrell Final Reflection Throughout this semester I learned such a great deal I didn't even imagine we would get through as much interesting material as we did. I felt this class was so special to me because it so important to constantly be learning about the culture and environment around us. Not only will this allow you to be a more well rounded human being but it will help vastly in the health workplace I am trying to achieve. I feel I can move forward in professional goals feeling more culturally aware and effective in the way I can communicate with clients or p ...continued...

18 years later In February 2011 an Ecuadorian judge ordered Chevron to pay some $17 billion in fines and punitive damages over the environmental contamination in Ecuador. Water is the source of life. Without clean water we can't survive. (Emergildo Criollo, leader of the Cofan people, Ecuador) Chevron, not surprisingly, said it would appeal the ruling, calling it “illegitimate and unenforceable.” Eighteen years before, when the suit was first filed in a New York court, Chevron fought to have the jurisdiction moved to Ecuador because the ...continued...

Published by Central Methodist University © 2011 My roommate at Central Methodist University, Fayette, Missouri, was Max Nickerson (class of 1960), but everyone called him Snake. He helped his dad run Nickerson’s Zoological Gardens. Snake was my roommate during my freshman year and always had a stash of exotic wild meat, rattlesnake being one of his favorites and mine as well after I adapted to the idea. Snake had been bitten by a cottonmouth when he was a youngster and lost is index finger down to the second joint. His trademark, in addition to other things was sticking the s ...continued...