A Review of 2012 Takes Me from Sad to Sweet

December 30, 2012

Here we are, at the end of 2012. Time for the “Personal best of…” – the annual review. But it’s not really the “best” so much as “most memorable” or “most notable.” What gave your 2012 its character? What events still have substance while most of what occurred fades away? What remains foreground even while [...]

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Preparing for a Good (Enough) Holiday on the Day Before Christmas

December 24, 2012

Days have moods and personalities. Today is Monday but it doesn’t feel like a Monday. It feels like what it is–a day whose meaning comes because it is before something else. For many, today is full of excitement and energy,  a determined march towards Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. For some, it is a day [...]

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A Private Yahrzeit Intersects with the Grief in Newtown, CT

December 16, 2012

My calendar has this Wednesday’s date circled. It is my father’s yahrzeit, the anniversary of his death according to the Jewish calendar. Every year I light a memorial candle that burns for 24 hours in his memory. My Aunt Ruth thought there was a family yarzheit book somewhere, with entries going back to my great-grandparents [...]

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Make the Green Go Away, or Why December is the Perfect Time for Cleaning

December 10, 2012

“Did you make the green go away?” My husband asked me this as he saw me cleaning the Britta filter. I know we’re supposed to use little stickers or other calendar notations to let us know when it’s time to change the filter, but I confess that the green at the bottom is a more [...]

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How a Grandmother and Speech Pathologist Come Together in Playtime

December 3, 2012

I’m a speech-language pathologist (SLP). I’m also a grandmother. Those two roles come together for me when I’m with my almost four-year-old grandson, who has delays in language development. So whenever we are together, I do my speech therapist thing. My “speech therapist thing” is providing language stimulation at my grandson’s level, to aid him [...]

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After Cyber Monday Comes Giving Tuesday

November 26, 2012

My in-box was flooded this morning with Cyber Monday offers. Just when I’d cleaned out Black Friday lures, a new batch of “best deals” presents itself.  Although I didn’t realize it, I celebrated Buy Nothing Day (in competition with Black Friday) without knowing it. In this world of social media, we like designated days. Share [...]

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From Sour to Satisfied at ASHA, Thanks to Maya Angelou

November 19, 2012

I’m tired, I’m satisfied, and I’m home. My trip to Atlanta for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention was, by every metric, a success for me. My presentation (“Reflective Practice for Emotional Balance in Professional Relationships”) went well, I had the chance to see friends from around the country, and I attended sessions that made [...]

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Saying Goodbye to SNAP, My Gym Home

November 12, 2012

I am ready for my workout this morning, but my body doesn’t know where to go. I am feeling gym-less. As of this morning, my beloved SNAP Fitness at Eastgate is no more. SNAP was no ordinary gym, at least to those of us who were devoted members. It had several things that other gyms [...]

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Remembering and Responding to Those Suffering from Superstorm Sandy

November 4, 2012

As we turned back our clocks last night and put Daylight Savings Time to bed for the year, we left behind a week of tragedy for those in Superstorm Sandy’s path. For many of us, the darker period is but a seasonal signal of autumn’s forward march, at most an inconvenience or a regret. Not [...]

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How I Almost Forgot to Reflect Before A Difficult Conversation (But Found My Writing in Time)

October 28, 2012

This was a week of worry for me. I felt burdened by an up-coming meeting with a former trainer, a man who had made a huge difference in my life (I’ve said before that he changed my life, and I don’t think that’s an exaggeration). We parted ways when he left my gym to take [...]

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Thank You ACSLPA–Communicating and Getting Grounded in Calgary

October 22, 2012

Calgary, Canada is a city of western, prairie themes. I learned that at the airport when friendly volunteers—all wearing white cowboy hats—greeted me as I entered the main terminal past customs. I saw more hats at my hotel, where two rodeo-themed conventions filled the place with boots and country music. I flew to Calgary last [...]

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When Frazzled at First Light, Get Grounded with Reflection

October 15, 2012

I planned to bound out of bed early this morning and get to work. I envisioned an intense, productive day that would leave me fully prepared for my trip this week to the ACSLPA Conference in Calgary. I looked forward to feeling engaged and focused, the work flowing and my mind at ease. Instead I [...]

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Personal and Professional: New Website, Continuing Identities

October 8, 2012

When I wrote my first blog post on The Reflective Writer on October 31, 2009, I said “this is not the beginning.” It was, however, a next step for me as I transitioned from my earlier website, Tower to Trenches: Bridging Academia and the Real World. At the time, beginning The Reflective Writer led me [...]

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Can You Strive To Be Your Best Even When You Are Not The Best?

October 7, 2012

We’re at the end of the baseball season, and here in Seattle we are watching a dreary conclusion. The Seattle Mariners, though improved as a team since last year, ran out of steam in the final weeks. The many young players are unaccustomed to the arduous, 164-game season and, in a cruel twist of scheduling, [...]

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Listen Up! Changes Coming to The Reflective Writer

October 7, 2012

Today’s brief post is like a commercial announcement that says,”Stay tuned!” I’m saying, “Stay tuned.” I’ve mentioned before that my website would be changing to better reflect my multiple identities and interests. Well, that “would be changing” is now “will be changing,” and I can add, “very soon.” I will tell you more in my [...]

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The Three R’s of Cleaning Clutter: Research, Reflect, Release

September 24, 2012

When autumn made its official entry this year, I caught the declutter bug. I wanted to clear out and throw out. Anyone who reads this blog knows that clutter has stymied and stressed me, so the impulse to clean rather than cling is unusual. I actually wanted to face the death room. The death room [...]

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How Rosh Hashanah and a Hmong Child Come Together

September 16, 2012

I am racing to complete the day’s tasks against the setting sun. Tonight is Erev Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish New Year. To me, Rosh Hashanah holds memories of family, fall, and ritual, associations so strong and familiar that I can hardly imagine their being absent. But I realize that many of you [...]

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How Resistance and Action Combine in A Season of Changes

September 10, 2012

When I picked up the newspaper outside our front door this morning, I stopped with surprise at the sight of the pavement. Wet. It rained last night. Rain in Seattle rarely demands a big headline, but we’ve had a nearly record setting 48 days without rain. On top of that, the weather has teased us [...]

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A Hotel Fit for a Feline, Nightlight Included

September 2, 2012

  Does a cat need a nightlight to find a litter box in the dark? This is the question my husband and I pondered as we hosted Pnina for the weekend. Pnina belongs to my step-son and his wife, and she came to our home on Friday to spend the Labor Day weekend. We offer [...]

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Baked Newspaper and Other Ways to Cope with Change

August 26, 2012

Newspapers have figured heavily in my life. My parents worked as reporters in their early careers, and they regularly dissected not just the news but how it was reported, printed, and distributed. Breakfast at our house meant food and a newspaper. So it is with dismay that I consider the possibility that I must stop [...]

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