Dr. Hannah Thuku Kolehmainen Today marks the end of my annual grief gauntlet. It starts subtly enough with the passing of summer, my favorite season. The weather gets cooler and the days shorter. Then I know it’s time to get my game face on. On September 29th five years ago, my sister passed away from ovarian cancer at the …
We all know not to count our chickens before they hatch. A neighbor visited and chatted with my husband about wanting to incubate a batch of ducklings. She’d found a brand new incubator at an estate sale but didn’t know how to use it and was leaving for an extended period of time. They discussed …
Part I: OXYTOCIN I took a magnificent Dementia class by fellow occupational therapist Teepa Snow. She taught a contact technique to use on people with dementia. She elaborated that it led to the release of Oxytocin, a hormone produced in mammalian brains. I call it our herd hormone. I later learned it controls social recognition …
That’s my son about to unfold a Christ Air into the sunset. In his dreams. Going to a skate park is number one on my boys’ list whenever they are asked what they would like to do. We are fortunate to have 3 pretty awesome parks around us. The one above, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, …
“How do you do it?” her new friend gasped incredulously. My kid sister Jackie was at a children’s birthday party and had just shared that she was a single mum. She got this reaction almost every time. This time an extraordinary sense of ownership welled inside her. “I do it just fine with the Lord.” …
To look at me that sunny August morning, one would never have guessed that my heart was flailing arrhythmically within me. It flounced, trying its level best to maintain a beat. Internally I floundered like a cow on skates and try as I might, I could not get my brain to engage. When he wasn’t …
If you know anything me, it’s my feelings about cows. You can find contributing factors here: https://thukumainen.wordpress.com/2016/10/11/wild-about-cows/. And to think I am married to a man who calls himself a rancher. Very sad. I posted that blog a year ago and my feelings haven’t changed much. Shortly after that, Emma who’d grown up on a …
I remember my youth, Fast and uptight, Resilient and taut, Easy to excite. Then I was a dish, but now turning Into a well-seasoned casserole; As my physical knack to hold it together slacks, Goes lax. I’m more flexible though. Resting and relaxing, Stretching and accommodating, Binding and creating. For the afternoon knows What …
I don’t like to give my money to the rich. Sitting at a mall, I watch people with their pretty shopping bags and hundreds of dollars worth of purchases and I cringe. I am certain that ultimately, those dollars are going to people that live in very big houses and drive pretty fancy cars on …
JD darted from the church and into his car in record time. Drenched in sweat, he felt like he would pass out. After he’d got a grip on himself, he reached into his front pocket of his stiff new Bi-Mart jeans for the infamous phone. He stilled his shaky hands and flipped the little gadget …