- Best Friends: From giving encouragement (when we’re about to fail) to propping us up (when we’ve already fallen), best friends are an indispensable part of a good life.
- Betrayal Anne Frank was betrayed by people she did not know. So were others sent to concentration camps. But how do we manage when the person who causes us pain is the one we love the most?
- Changes: Despite our natural resistance to change, we have no choice but to deal with it. Sometimes, despite our fears, change leads us to an even better place.
- Compromise:
Getting along with each other, at home and elsewhere, often requires compromise. Easier said than done!
- Dad:
How does a family cope when the father has severe depression? What happens when the illness progresses to dementia or Alzheimer’s? Sometimes the best support group we will ever have is our own family.
- Easing Loneliness: Growing old, alone, is difficult. A visit, or even a kind word, can help to brighten someone’s day. Where do we get the motivation to ease someone else’s loneliness?
- Getting Sick, Being Well: It’s hard to imagine making peace with a life-threatening illness...until it crashes in on our lives.
- Guardian Angels: One finds guardian angels in unexpected places...and when they are most needed.
- Holding Patterns: Planes, in a holding pattern, can be similar to great relationships.
- Independence:
People need their own space - and time - to correct mistakes. If only those we love would realize that!
- Keepsakes:
Often, the most meaningful things we own in our lives are small enough to fit in a basket.
- Losing Grandma: A Grandmother is one of life’s greatest treasures. Losing her is one of life’s greatest sorrows.
- Models of Love: Parents who love their children can be the greatest role models in the world.
- Partners: Making a partnership work requires balanced perspective. If we only credit our own input, it’s easy to miss the contributions of others.
- Scars: Children can be cruel to each other. When that happens, the scars of pain can last a lifetime.
- Success: A successful life includes good and bad, ups and downs. Sometimes it takes years to make sense of the bad. Sometimes "the downs" never make sense.
- Surprised by Joy: When the best of life is unexpected, it's a beautiful thing.
- Tears: The Vietnam War Memorial - the Wall - is a sobering place. For some visitors, it represents sacred ground.
- This Day: “From this day forward” - words we hear at a wedding - mean the first day of marriage is just the beginning of a journey filled with twists and turns.
- This I Believe: A good purpose may be hidden in a bad event, but words of comfort have meaning long after they are spoken.
- Time: The time we spend on each other - and on ourselves - is a gift. But like a bouquet of fresh roses, it is gone before we know it.