In less than a week, music lovers from across the country will descend upon Chicago’s Grant Park by the thousands for the annual Lollapalooza music festival. Luckily for attendees, there is no shortage of hotels in Chicago, a city made for grand events and mass tourism. In fact, there is a fourteen story hotel directly…
“Good luck to you, and I hope to never see you again,” my son’s neurologist joked as he shook his hand and ushered us out of the exam room in his small corner of Mott’s Children’s Hospital. I was quiet as we made our way through the maze of hallways to the elevator, and tried…
On a frigid winter evening nearly six months ago, police officer Jonathan Frost pulled seventeen-year-old Deven Guilford over for flashing his high beams at him. Less than six minutes later, Deven was dead, shot seven times by the Eaton County Sheriff’s Deputy. The tragedy that unfolded on a dark, rural highway just outside the small…
Taking the family to Disney World has long been a part of the "American Dream." As a child I always wanted to go, but not if it meant getting on a plane. (I didn't overcome my fear of flying until I was in my 30s.) As a mom, I always wanted to take my kids.…
Every year on this day, I am awakened by a familiar, unwelcome feeling. It tugs at me like a fish on a hook, trying to drag me down into the deepest, darkest depths of my memories. It’s the heaviness in my chest and the half smile on my face that is always just a moment…
I’ve started to write this a million times. Every time I reach an important milestone in this journey I’m on, I think, “okay, NOW I can sit down and write it all out.” But then I decide I’m just not there yet. I like to reach the end of a journey before I reflect on…
When bad things happen in our world, it's become the norm for people to take to social media to express their outrage/shock/sadness and offer condolences and prayers. But since the shooting at Fort Hood yesterday that killed four (including the shooter) and wounded sixteen others, I've seen very little of that outside of from those…
February 14, 2009 began as a lazy Saturday in our house. Sure, it was Valentine's Day, but I've never been a big fan of Hallmark holidays, so it was just like any other day for us. Austin had just celebrated his tenth birthday three days prior. Ethan was six. They'd spent the night at their…
If ever there was a product of the 1970s era, I’m it. My dad was a rock star- a long-haired, guitar playing, hard-partying musician in leather pants who toured the country for gigs. And my mom was the pretty, soft-spoken bartender with feathered bangs and long legs that he set his sights on while performing in the…
We do things a little differently here in Michigan. We drink “pop” instead of “soda.” It’s not uncommon for us to switch back and forth between the furnace and the a/c multiple times a day. We use our hands as maps to show people where we live. In our defense, though, we’re simply following our leaders when…
