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2025

April 2025: Grand Acknowledgments

March 2025: One Is Silver and the Other Gold

As my staff and I pulled together pieces for this month’s newsletter, we decided to focus on offerings we provide to reconnect with “gold” clients who have worked with us in the past, and to engage new “silver” clients, too. (Read more in our newsletter)

February 2025: Ho’oponopono: Writing to Make Things Right:

Noah Wyle of ER fame plays Dr. Robby, the head of the ER in this show. In an episode I watched earlier this month, his character helps two grieving siblings make peace with the difficult decision to take their dying father off life support. He tells them about a Hawaiian healing ritual called Ho’oponopono, which translates to “to make things right.” He then offers the following loose translation of powerful words one person says to another to promote healing and connection: I love you. Thank you. I forgive you. Please forgive me. (Read more in our newsletter)

January 2025: Hope as a Practice in the New Year

It’s all too easy to feel the pull of despair. Journaling is one way I’ve resisted that impulse. This month, a conversation with a wise minister friend has inspired me to reflect on the difference between hope and optimism. I’ve realized that the latter can feel like naiveté to me, or a denial of grim realities. But hope is more than a glass-half-full perspective; hope is a practice. I find this distinction quite empowering. (Read more in our newsletter)

2024

December 2024: Memoir Lessons from the Barefoot Contessa

Earlier this month I gave my mother the early Christmas present of bringing her to hear celebrity cook Ina Garten (a.k.a. the Barefoot Contessa) talk about her new, bestselling memoir, Be Ready When the Luck Happens. My mother is a huge fan of Garten and her books and television shows, and we both read the memoir before attending this event. Although I had intended this only as a mother-daughter date and not as a work-related event, my editorial ears perked up as I heard Garten reflect on the process of writing her memoir. (Read more in our newsletter)

November 2024: Thanksgiving Tears

I grew up hearing that the grandfather I never met could not get through saying grace at Thanksgiving without crying. Hearing this story as a child both moved and puzzled me. Eventually, I came to understand that my grandfather cried while giving the Thanksgiving blessing because he missed those who were not present, and because of the joy and gratitude he felt for the life he shared with my grandmother and their thirteen children. (Read more in our newsletter)

October 2024: Your “Paper Toasts”: One Chapter in a Forthcoming Company History

September 2024: Toasts to the Team!

August 2024: Home Sweet Home

July 2024: Reasons and Purposes for Writing Memoirs

June 2024: What Can I Do?

May 2024: Unexpected Gifts

April 2024: Endlessly Fascinating

March 2024: Springtime’s Message: “Hang on to Your Hope”

February 2024: Sometimes We Write for Ourselves

January 2024: Anniversaries Aplenty in 2024