Today I read a great story on MEDIUM about the surprises that come with aging. I realized that most of the stories I was reading were from those among us who are turning 60. I was empathizing and nodding in agreement then the realization hit me that I am turning…

Working at a Funeral Home in various capacities brings me into contact with so many interesting situations about how families are coping with GRIEF. The very heart of my work is helping our families deal with Grief. I am constantly intrigued by how Grief is handled by individuals and families…

Growing up to be a lawn gnome was never a real plan, yet here I am crushing it! As many of the writers on here have lamented, aging is not for the weak or timid. …

The Monday after Christmas. Here we are back at work, and the much-anticipated holiday is once again past us with even this first day flying by. It is a part of our accelerated aging process I am quite sure. When I was a kid in southern Oklahoma, and we were…

One of my favorite company jobs is playing SANTA at our annual “Christmas Open House” at the very large Funeral Home, Mausoleum, and Cemetery complex where I work. As I have now been doing this for about a decade, I have my “regulars” who come see me each year. When…

As a rural farm kid from small-town Oklahoma, college was an awakening for me. I had only traveled out of my hometown area a couple of times, and suddenly there were students in my classes from around the world. New music. New foods. New cultures and new customs! I did…

This week, and on this election day, I must reflect on my almost seventy years of life experience. Honestly, I cannot recall when religion has so heavily influenced an election and hoped for results. The separation of Church and State was sacred when I was much younger. …

Note; Kumokum in Native American studies is the Creator. “Maheo” also means “great spirit”. This was penned after a miscarriage in 1985, which would be one of three we would have as we attempted our family. I wrote this as I coped with that loss. Kumokum has stirred light. …

The past beats inside of me like a second heart…. There aren’t many days that go by that I don’t remember my grandma’s farm in the rural part of south-central Oklahoma. My maternal great-grandparents came to Indian Territory to homestead in the early 1900s and had a 160-acre parcel suitable…