Chapter 1: Sunday, January 7 Rick Players looked up from his snowmobile at the jagged peaks of the Rockies. A cold wind stung his cheeks, and he smiled at its bite. It was the last afternoon of his twin teenage sons’ winter break. For this day only, Rick had ignored his job as CEO of PlayLand, the toy company his family owned. Just one afternoon with his boys. That’s all he wanted. Well, if he were honest, he wanted out of the job altogether. He hadn’t realized when he took over from his father that leading PlayLand would cost him his freedo ...continued...

Cultural competence has a great deal of meaning to me especially after taking this class. I define cultural competence by having the ability to be cultural aware of the differences of other cultures than of your own. It has a major impact on health care in our country because there are so many different groups and cultures of other people besides your own. I feel one is an ideal health care provider when they continually educate themselves on how to be culturally competent and understanding of others. I feel being culturally competent means making sure a patient you are working with understand ...continued...

When he was in his early eighties, my father taught me about the possible depths of his love. I knew my parents had a fine relationship but I never realized how much my father adored my mother. There was little hint of his admiration and passion in their visible every day relationship. Only after my mother sank into Alzheimer’s did my grief-worn father reveal his immeasurable love. Oh he didn’t talk about his feelings: he was, after all, a WWII veteran and a man raised to stoically endure for the sake of his family. But he showed me his devotion every day. Lesson I: “Is ...continued...

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The Marvels of Movement Dancing is like dreaming with your feet! ~Constanze: During my mom’s dementia journey, movement often inspired and connected us. Here is one of those magical moments, excerpted from my book, Love in the land of Dementia: Finding Hope in the Caregiver’s Journey. The story is set in my mom’s memory care unit. ** Rochelle, the activity director, sticks in another tape and soon Stardust is playing. images “Let’s dance,” she says, motioning everyone to stand. Mom looks up and I offer her my hand. ...continued...

Today we woke up to more of the same. A howling wind and violently flapping tent walls. We discovered that the wind, which is from the north, is rapidly pushing us back to our start location from yesterday. We call it a hamster wheel when the ice beneath our feet moves as quickly south as we move north. Since we are tent bound I have felt a survival mode kick in with both of us. I found myself hoarding the last of my Pop-Tarts as I secretly tried to eat them inside my sleeping bag, denying their very existence when questioned by Mike over the noisy wrappers giving me up. From the crunching ...continued...

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Mom was my best friend and though I feel her presence around me often, it is always strongest during Mother’s Day. Two years ago I was in a very dark place, overwhelmed with the chaos in my life I decided it was time to work on my office at home, trying to find and create order. As I opened a file drawer to clean it out, inside was an old blue folder with papers inside. Keep or throw I wondered as I opened the folder. Inside was a copy of the Constitution of the United States, the one mom helped me memorize in 8th grade. Ne ...continued...

My mother said I was a wampus cat. What a wampus cat is exactly, I can't tell you, and I doubt if Mom could either, but there you have it. A wampus cat. It brings to mind some sort of wild animal, like a bobcat or panther maybe. A wild animal isn't me, though, but wampus sounds kind like whopper, and to my ears it also brings to mind big. Maybe that early conditioning is why I still fight the battle of the bulge today. After all, if I'm a wampus cat, I must be big. Nothing like starting on the old self concept a little young. Bu ...continued...

In amongst my ‘heaven-like’ existence, there was aching pain and anger and turmoil that was outside of my bubble, not even two steps away from me. To this day I cannot describe exactly what went on around me because I was too young to understand the reasons or the details. All I knew was that we had our patriarch and our entire household revolved around what he wanted and how he wanted it. I could not comprehend it because to me he was loving and yielding and I would never have been able to match the two personalities into one soul. But there were endl ...continued...

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Fact can often appear to be well written fiction. How many times have we heard the expression “You couldn’t make this stuff up.” A few years ago I experienced one of these wonderful moments. It occurred in “Iggy’s” pub in Kincasslagh, on the west coast of Donegal. This remote place has two famous sons, Daniel O’Donnell (a very popular country and western crooner) and Packie Bonner (a famous and long serving Irish International soccer player). This is a beautiful and magical part of the world. The road to Kincasslagh is narrow and undulating. This ...continued...

My favorite Mark Twain quote: I've lived through some terrible things in my life and some of them actually happened. I start every Life History and Lewis and Clark workshop with this one. http://ozarkstories.com Sincerity Be happy to the success of others. Know that there is enough for everyone. Jealousy, Envy, Cynicism, Fear, Selfishness, and Hatred will surely tear you down. Reread the chapter on Thoughts to ensure that you understand how the subconscious delivers. Laugh at yourself and the World laughs with you. Laugh at others and the World laughs at y ...continued...

WHAT WOULD MARTIN THINK? Martin Luther King Day Northern Iraq 2004 Attending a celebration service recognizing the birth and accomplishments of Dr. King is not altogether unusual on a day set aside as a holiday in memory of the man and his impact on the future fabric of our nation. What makes this year’s attendance unusual is that I’m in Iraq. I’m deployed to the northern-most airfield in Free Iraq. As a member of a medical unit assigned to Freedom Air Base, ...continued...

One summer we (Bill & Jim with us littler one's carrying the nails) built a addition to the barn, it was 3 stories high with 3 different floors. We thought it was quite sturdy but one day Pop went up to the top, he jumped up and down a few times and said it wasn't sturdy enough and had to be torn down, which we (they) did. One day we (I'm sure it was the older kids) took one- of Pop's cigarette packs and went out to the barn to smoke it. The neighbor lady saw all the smoke coming from the barn and she came out with a pail of water to put out the ...continued...