One year ago, my husband’s sister, Ksana, was diagnosed with a brain tumour. She was operated on, and was given a year to live. The doctors were right, and she passed away a few weeks ago. When someone is dying…
Blog Archives
What to say, and what NOT to say, to someone who is terminally ill
Tagged with: communication with dying, Condolences, dying, family memories, forgiveness, terminal illness, terminally ill, what to say to the dying
Posted in observations, The Family Memory Project, writing
Posted in observations, The Family Memory Project, writing
How Do You Write Condolences?
How do you express condolences? Often, writing condolences is very difficult. You may not know what to say, or how to say it.…
Tagged with: Condolences, courtesy, emails, family memories, family memory project, the family message book, writing
Posted in The Family Memory Project, writing
Posted in The Family Memory Project, writing
Ten Tips for Taking Care of Yourself in Business and in Your Personal Life.
Learn to say no. This means that you have more time to do the things you really want to do. Laugh. Everyone knows the health benefits of laughter. It lowers stress and has been shown to improve your immune system. It’s…
Tagged with: take care, taking care
Posted in Business, observations, The Family Memory Project, writing
Posted in Business, observations, The Family Memory Project, writing
Why my husband doesn’t help me
These last few weeks have been hectic. I’ve been preparing for our Spinners and Weavers annual exhibition and sale, and also for our trip overseas. I wanted to clear a lot of my writing work before I go—and I’ve had…
Posted in observations, The Family Memory Project
Problem solving—the easy way
Things are never too hard For a few seconds, it all seemed too hard. I had five articles to write last week, none of which I’d started, and it was clear that I should fly down to Melbourne and spend…
Tagged with: Business Writing, coping strategies, family memories, problem solving, stress, writing
Posted in The Family Memory Project, writing
Posted in The Family Memory Project, writing
Light on the Water
We have recently returned from Guatemala, where we visited the orphanage in which Alex, my son, has been volunteering. It was an experience full of contrasts and revelation. Contrasted against the beauty of Lake Atitlan, I saw the orphanage for…
Slugs and Snails and Puppy-Dogs’ Tails…
I’m sure you’ve experienced this: several things all happening close together, all focussing your attention on the same thing. Three recent events converged to remind me about gender-neutral language. As some of you know, I recently started a new contract…
Tagged with: business emails, Business Writing, family memory project, gender, gender-specific language, writing
Posted in The Family Memory Project, writing
Posted in The Family Memory Project, writing
Christmas Gifts For You
Alex update My Gifts to you this Christmas Helping Alex News for 2016 Alex Update: Thank you everyone for asking about how Alex is. If you didn’t see the story of what happened to my youngest son, it is…
Tagged with: alex, family memories, family memory project, share your skills, the, writing
Posted in The Family Memory Project
Posted in The Family Memory Project
A Heartbreaking Personal Story
It’s been an unnerving and scary month, filled with tragedy and hope. I don’t just mean the terrorist attacks all over the world, which were undeniably tragic. I mean this in a far more personal way. My youngest son, Alex,…
Posted in The Family Memory Project, writing
Your most important message
My daughter writes the most amazingly touching cards for our birthdays, mothers’ day, and fathers’ day. She does it right. But I have seen some very poor messages, and some very embarrassing ones. What makes a good message? We send…
