Turning 50 with My Twin By Jude Joseph Lovell We were there. On a long porch, at night. Isolated from the world. Thick clouds smothering the moon and stars. Wind trampling through the dark trees. Branches snapping in the mist like brittle bones. Night creatures chittering and screeching. There was no fear. We were together. Read more
Parents’ Day in September by Jude Joseph Lovell September 27 has always been important to my family. It’s my mother’s birthday. This year marks her 81st, and I can report happily that she is going strong. Which isn’t terribly surprising if you know Joanne Lovell. She has never let much grass grow beneath her. But Read more
Love Out Loud By Donna L. Scrafano While we all attempt to survive this pandemic, we can’t deny that life as we once knew it has changed greatly. In addition to picking up groceries or walking into a store with our masks and armor on, we are social distancing from family and friends or not Read more
Isolation by Donna L. Scrafano According to Merriam-Webster’s on-line dictionary, “isolation” is “the state of being in a place or situation that is separate from others; the condition of being isolated; the act of separating something from other things; the act of isolating something.” Thanks to the coronavirus, isolation has become part of our society’s Read more
Out of the Mouths of Babes by Lucy E.M. Black Before COVID-19 began in earnest, one of the great pleasures in my life was spending a fair amount of time in kindergarten classrooms. And to my delight, I was once again reminded of the acceptance, curiosity, and incredible honesty of young children. Not yet having Read more
Loves Language: A Love Story By Lucy E.M. Black In Gary Chapman’s book, The 5 Love Languages, he posits a theory that each of us has a natural inclination to express and receive love and affection in a particular way. He calls each of these five expressions a love language. The five languages include: physical Read more
Oral Sex: Is it Better to Give or Receive? Tracy E. Hill, Ph.D. With funding from the National Institute on Aging, researchers from Michigan State and Texas A & M Universities took a deep dive into oral sex. Published in the Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences (2019), Drs. Hui Liu, Shannon Shen, and Ning Hsieh investigated how giving Read more
Did you know that married couples are less likely to develop dementia than other adults? According to Drs. Liu, Zhang, Choi and Langa, all unmarried groups of people (i.e., divorced, widowed, single, etc.) had significantly higher odds of developing dementia than their married friends. The researchers from Michigan State, University of Michigan and Texas Tech Read more
Life Lessons from Dad by Donna Scrafano As I observe his physical and mental health deteriorate, I find it difficult to embrace the fact that this ninety-year-old, ever-fading, weak individual is my father. I must get past the sometime daunting tasks of caregiving in order to be able to reminisce. It is only recently, because Read more
What We Share (or Don’t) With Our Partners How much do you share with your spouse, particularly if it is not your first marriage? During a recent conversation with a friend, she mentioned that she was going to have surgery. Curious and generally concerned for her well-being, I asked her what the surgery was for. Read more
