A scientist friend recently remarked on the foliage as having an understory and an overstory. These terms had been unknown to me at the time, despite being a next door neighbor to National Forest for the last 20 years. Yet, I have not been able to stop thinking how an understory perfectly defines the forest,… Continue reading Why the “Understory” of Growing Up is Essential and Why We Need to Listen
The term “inter-abled” is a new word for me. Until reading a recent Reeve blog, this was a word I had not read or overheard in casual conversation. As an avid reader my entire life and high school English teacher for 22 years, I actually love learning new words, and once I know them, I can… Continue reading Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation Blog, September 4, 2019: “The Beauty of Choosing Our Words”
There was a time when many schools in NH did not honor Martin Luther King, Jr or other Civil Rights leaders with a holiday. There was a time when many schools in the United States did not honor humans like Martin Luther King, Jr. period. There was a time when many Americans did not understand… Continue reading Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
January is National Mentoring Month, which is cool on many fronts, but mostly because a local baby has been born in our community whose mission is to foster mentoring relationships between young women and their more experienced counterparts. This “baby” is Virago, a new program falling under the Bridge Project, coordinated by Life Coach Tracy… Continue reading Why Mentoring Matters– Both to Children and Adults Alike
No matter how old we grow, our parents are still our parents, and they never stop wanting to take care of us even when we are 43 and 48 and have children of our own. We are lucky every day because both sets of our children’s grandparents, our own moms, and dads, chose to retire… Continue reading Christopher and Dana Reeve Blog: Grateful for Parents as Caregivers, November 9, 2018
If you haven’t heard, here in New England there is an ABUNDANCE of SQUIRRELS. They have been pictured happily swimming across lakes and sadly squished along highways. In a recent trip to southern NH, we counted 15 in about three miles on the interstate. Needless to say, the carnage has captured our children’s interest. “Mom,… Continue reading An Ode to Squirrels, 8th Graders, and Middle School Teachers
Thank you for “Back to School” back pack drives like this one sponsored by our fabulous Bridge Project for our students who might otherwise show up to school with nothing but a smile, and, sadly, not even that. The intention is for all students to be granted a new school bag with some essential items… Continue reading Beyond the Back Pack: Stocking the Stoke for School
When your otherwise coordinated husband falls out of his wheelchair not once but twice in one week, we know the world is extra topsy turvy. When it’s mid April and snow and freezing rain continue to fall angrily outside, I question Mother Nature’s decision making process. When bad things continue to happen to good people–… Continue reading Are You There God? It’s Me, Heather…
When I set out to write a realistic fiction novel, True North, I knew one of my main characters would be a dad with a spinal cord injury who was a good man, with a dark secret in his past, and a fairly significant character flaw. As a high school English teacher for 20 years,… Continue reading Christopher and Dana Reeve Blog, March 26, 2018: “Tracking Our Character”
The snow fell steadily. Plows made loud noises around us. Yet, amid the noise, amid the shuffle of life, 70-something middle and high school students standing in a circle held 7 minutes of silence and then shared bios of the people who were lost in Parkland, Florida during a school shooting. This was a non-sanctioned,… Continue reading Why We Walked Out Today…
