Grandpa was blind, with a thick Latvian accent from the old country. Even though he was over eighty and I was only six, I was thrilled to walk around the block with him and his white seeing eye dog because he loved to talk with me and even listen to me. Daddy drove me to Chicago almost every summer when it was Daddy’s turn to have custody of me for a few weeks. Even though my parents were divorced, and Grandpa was a minister, he had a loving attitude toward my mother. Of course, he knew nothing of what was going on with my seven-year-old half-sister and I as we…

A rack of seeds would be a sad sight indeed if we didn’t know their potential.  It’s basically a display of dead things with pretty pictures on the cover. That is, until some inspired, energetic person buys the seeds, prepares just the right soil, and does the planting. And a seed can only be what it was created to be. A geranium seed cannot become a rose, and a rose seed cannot become an orange. If the seed is lucky enough to be planted, and if it is to blossom, it will have to end up in fertile ground or the right kind of soil for that seed.  But some…

Sisters come in all different forms. Most have the same mother and father, right? Well, Gloria was my half-sister (we had the same mother). She was two years older than me and was my hero when we were very young latchkey kids.  She saved my life a few times when we were home alone and burglars broke in. Some sisters grow up together. We were separated a lot. She had the unique gift of making me laugh no matter how difficult the circumstances were.  We would laugh until the tears rolled down our faces and we were gasping for air. That sense of humor has lasted our entire lives. Some sisters grow old together. We didn’t…