By Trina O’Quinn for the NABBW I have heard the expression, “stop and smell the roses” since I was 19 years old. This has been 56 years of my life. That is the entire length of my marriage. Until I was 19, my parents believed that they needed to keep me busy so I wouldn’t get into trouble. (Translation: so that I wouldn’t get pregnant.) This was the 50s and early 60s, so that was their greatest fear — to have a daughter get pregnant before she was married. The message I understood from their attitude was that ‘if you do not stay busy all your life, you will get into trouble.’... Read More

By Trina O’Quinn for the NABBW I ended my last blog post,  in which I discussed how I was dealing with the losses generated by the COVID pandemic, with a plan to Reflect, Remember, Rest, Recharge, Refocus, Resolve and have Curiosity while doing the “six Rs of grief.” As time has moved forward, I have tried to separate the steps and work on them in a vertical progression. A month later, I am finding that as I try to go through the stages of grief, I am not achieving the usual result. So I have decided to grieve on a continuum, knowing that the stages will overlap or at least bleed... Read More

By Trina O’Quinn, for the NABBW One would think that the stay-at-home and self-isolating orders issued by our various states in response to the COVID-19 pandemic would be food for an introvert’s soul. In some ways it is. It’s working well for my introverted personality, which tends to want to isolate to the point of invisibility. However, deep in my soul I know that it is working too well, and undoing all the therapy I have done around socialization. Socializing takes a lot of my energy, so I need isolation and rest to recharge. My extroverted friends, on the other hand,... Read More

By Meryl Ain for the NABBW It’s a beautiful day in my neighborhood and a wonderful morning for a walk. It’s early so hardly anyone is out yet, enabling me to pull my mask low on my face breathing in the sweet fragrance of the season, noting that this is exactly what spring smelled like when I was a child. I stop to take photos of the gorgeous pink and yellow and orange tulips, which remind me of how my mother lovingly planted the bulbs in our backyard garden each year.  I spot a couple of robin redbreasts. I haven’t yet encountered a cardinal, but sure as it’s spring, I know I will. Ever... Read More