Thursday, June 1, 2023
Since 1854 — News from Montcalm County and Ionia County, Michigan
My granddaughter is four and a half. The half is important. You know it is.
She goes to pre-school in Grand Rapids. By everything I see, as a grandmother in another city, her teacher is superb. I have noticed this all school year and it just seems to get better.
Mother’s Day is here. Time for mothers to reflect. How have we done?
What have we given and left our children that really matters. Oh, there have been buckets of love and caring. Sometimes the kids really appreciate that and sometimes they think it wasn’t quite enough … or maybe it was more than needed. It’s hard to please, don’t you know.
In 1998, a really cool thing happened. Les Morford and Pat Willison, MCC employees at the time, began Life Long Learners, offering interesting programs for people over 50 (all ages can come, though). It ran successfully until COVID disrupted the world.
This coming Friday, May 5, Life Long Learners is returning in glorious form. A new board/group is working on it and excitedly making plans.
There is a true story about a bus company in England that kept getting calls from angry bus riders. They were complaining that the buses wouldn’t stop to pick them up.
The bus company knew that had to be wrong and called a meeting of all the bus drivers.
We were talking to our daughter recently. We were both driving as we talked, on headsets through the car, of course.
Our daughter exclaimed, “Holy cow, the guy next to me is shaving as he drives and he has a full beard. He’s shaving his neck and it must be going all over his clothes and the car.”
If you look up the word inspiration in the dictionary, it will likely have a picture of Mary K. Hoodhood. Some of you will remember her coming to speak for One Book One County years ago.
Recently someone dear to me was going through a tough time trying to decide what to do. It involved a major change in their life and it was clear they were afraid. I was trying to give encouragement, advice, something helpful, anything positive. I heard this all coming out of my mouth and thought, “Dang, that is quite profound. I wonder where that came from.”
In the 1600s, LaRochefoucauld said, “Few people know how to be old.”
Gertrude Stein commented, “We are always the same age inside.”
There are a lot of things I’ve heard lately and wanted to share. They don’t relate to each other and you may not appreciate them. Some I laughed at, some I was appalled at, some I thought were “right on.” Like I said, they don’t follow any pattern, all random reactions I’ve had!
This column has been an honor to write.
Two friends have shared their very, very personal stories. They did so to help others who may suffer from alopecia and to raise awareness.
