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Four Powerful Words

December 1st, 2005

…by Prill Boyle One evening several years ago, as I was prodding my husband Michael to take another step up the career ladder, he looked me square in the eye and said, “I\’m not ambitious. If you want fortune, fame…or fancier digs, be ambitious for yourself.” He told me that if I wanted to be President of the United States, he\’d be happy to be First Gentleman, but he was tired of trying to live up to my idea of a successful husband. Those four words—be ambitious for yourself—changed the tone of our relationship and opened a new chapter of my life. I took a critical look... Read More

Setting for Twelve

December 1st, 2005

…by Julie Clark Robinson “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, ‘thank you,\’ that would suffice.”  — Meister Eckhart Choosing a china pattern with my fiancé all those years ago wasn\’t quite the love fest a young girl dreams about all her life, but it has lead to something quite lovely. There were a few things I became quickly aware of that summer evening in Marshall Fields. One was that the rolling of my betrothed\’s eyes (when he thought I wasn\’t looking) meant that such decisions were to be mine from that point forward. The second thing... Read More

All I Want For Christmas Is…

December 1st, 2005

kay, that title may not be original, but my idea is. Hold on to your stocking stuffers\’ people cause I have a whopper of an idea for Christmas this year. I\’ve been giving this gift buying-running-to-the-mall-fighting-the-crowds-going-into-debt-and-cooking-for-the-multitudes thing, a lot of thought. What say this year we reverse the roles? Hmm? I mean, who says that kids should get all the neat toys and gifts under the tree, anyway? And what about the best candy always going in THEIR stockings? Exactly WHO made up these rules? I know I didn\’t. You? More than likely, it was someone... Read More

Tips for Getting Eldercare – And Your Life – Under Control

December 1st, 2005

Because eldercare is often unexpected, intermittent (at least initially), and always unpredictable, few of us realize the time and toll it\’s taking on us personally in terms of money, relationships, and peace of mind – to mention nothing of our sanity! It\’s also difficult to accurately predict the true length of our commitment. In fact, according to the 1999 MetLife Mature Market Institute Study, a majority of those anticipating 1 to 2 years of caregiving actually spent 4 or more years providing care. Add to that all the complicated bureaucratic and legal restrictions, such as... Read More

Women and Estate Planning: The Need to Be Nontraditional

December 1st, 2005

I am now getting to the age where I have more friends working on their second marriage than their first. Some of those still in their first marriages often have in-laws or grandchildren living with them. And I can\’t tell you how many families I know where the wife is the primary bread winner and the husband the primary caregiver. With the mixture and matches that come with families in this modern world, it is becoming almost unusual to find a traditional family. . Nevertheless, we women often view estate planning in a traditional way. Traditionally, the husband alone met with the attorney... Read More

The Secret to Success

December 1st, 2005

Most people are looking for the secret to success; the secret to being a millionaire; the secret to winning at working. To help them find it, Amazon.com currently inventories 1,797 books promising success secrets, everything from “Mustang Sallies: Success Secrets of Women Who Refuse to Run With the Herd” to “The 21 Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires.” So, if you\’re one of those looking, I\’ll save you some time. The bottom line is this – there is no secret. There\’s no magical formula to follow; no short-cuts to take or lottery tickets you can purchase. People... Read More

Dealing With Your Depression – Column I

November 30th, 2005

In this SERIES of monthly COLUMNS Dr. Stephen will help you: • Find out more about your depressed mood • Name that tune: A description of depressive and mood disorders • Change your depressed mood through action • Decide if you need medication COLUMN ONE: FIND OUT MORE ABOUT YOUR DEPRESSED MOOD Question: Why did the chicken cross the road? Answer: To prove to the possum that it could be done. Didn\’t laugh? Two options. One, you are a dyed-in-the-feathers animal lover and find no humor in chickens or possums, nor in any irreverent combination of... Read More

Holiday…Oops…I Mean Hospital Inn Express

November 1st, 2005

When my oldest son became ill, I spent nearly at week at the hospital, night and day. I discovered many things about hospitals that I am inclined to share. First and foremost, repeat after me, “This ain\’t no Holiday Inn™.” The sooner you get use to that idea, the better. Also, there are 397 possible positions of those so called “fold-out” chair-beds. Most of them can be viewed in any Chinese Torture book. Staff nurses think only of the patients. What\’s up with that? Would it kill them to bring me coffee when they first hear me fall out of the chair-bed? A muffin?... Read More

A Baby Boomer Holiday

November 1st, 2005

The Gift of a Journal If you have never taken the time to journal, I\’d like to introduce you to this practice. For many years I read books that suggested I record my thoughts and feelings. Sometimes I was asked to answer a series of questions related to the topic. Do you know what? I never bothered. Why should I do this, I wondered? After all, I reasoned, I knew what the answers would be. Writing would not reveal any secret agenda. It would simply waste my time. How wrong I was! I am going to ask you a series of questions. I invite you to take a few minutes to answer them. I would suggest... Read More

Preparing for the Worst

November 1st, 2005

I remember my first Christmas tree as a married woman. Spending the holidays away from my childhood home, my husband and I braved shopping center parking lots in search of the perfect Christmas tree. The tree we bought was beautiful—for two days at least. Then needles began dropping from the tree because neither my husband nor I knew that you had to cut the bottom of the tree so that it could absorb water. As the fallen needles left bare branches, ornaments which were family heirlooms began to fall to the floor. Our first great tree adventure was a disaster. It was a disaster because I had forgotten... Read More