December 30, 2020

There’s Always Next Year

Well, we did it. We made it to the end of the year that made no sense. Are you giddy? Gloomy? Melancholy? Grateful? Frustrated? Outraged? Me, […]
December 1, 2020

The Holly-Jolly Year of Me That Wasn’t

What a chaotically complicated, fascinating time to be alive. I keep hearing people say they are glad 2020 will finally be over soon. Are they convinced […]
September 8, 2020

Lifetime Impact Part II: Rene’s Pen Pals from Desert Shield/Desert Storm

In early October 1990, almost two months after Rene deployed to King Khalid Air Base near Khamis Mushait, a city in southwest Saudi Arabia, U.S. mailbags […]
July 27, 2020

30 Years After Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Part 1: Rene Deploys to the Middle East

It has been 30 years since my mother stopped frying my hair with home permanents, I quit wearing stone-washed jeans, and I began to say goodbye […]
June 29, 2020

What Exactly Are You Saying?

What a confusing, frustrating, challenging crossroads we find ourselves at this summer. I am exhausted and short-fused, yet I remain optimistic. I believe we are once […]
June 2, 2020

Inspiring Thoughts from the Nebraska National Guard’s First Female General Officer

Although it feels appropriate to launch this post with a whiney pandemic intro, I won’t. You have heard all those rhetorically clever and incredibly annoying color […]
April 28, 2020

Moments of Reset

Living and working from home through Covid-19 feels like the movie, Groundhog Day, except Rene and I don’t wake up every day to Sonny and Cher […]
March 30, 2020

My Favorite Spring (is NOT 2020)

Spring. What a lovely word. When used as a noun or a verb, spring represents feelings of change, hope, rebirth, optimism, and growth. This year, I […]
March 2, 2020

5 Years a Survivor. Now What?

Well, I did it! I reached THE milestone. Yep, on February 11 I reached my five-year anniversary as a breast cancer survivor. Rene was at a […]