Dear 21 Year Old Betsy, You pride yourself on high achievement. That is fine and working hard will serve you well throughout your life, but I assure you, life will have its twists and turns. You will not have a career in the arts, but will find enjoyment through them. Go with the flow. Learn… Read More

I am a relic of a by-gone era. I believe handwritten thank you notes should still be written in response to gifts (except from immediate family members, when a verbal thank you will suffice). As you see, I still have monogrammed stationery (the Featured photo) for writing such notes (as well as condolence notes). It… Read More

In no particular order: Schitt’s Creek (laugh riot) Sanditon (disappointing) The Life Ahead Defending Jacob (shot locally around Boston) The Morning Show Never Have I Ever (hats off to Suzy’s son) Hamilton (better than live) The Queen’s Gambit (totally engaging, a true binge) The Crown (4th season, bulimia reigns supreme) Broadchurch (Olivia Coleman, before she’s… Read More

I have been surrounded by depression (not just Seasonal Affect Disorder, but true depression) my whole life. My paternal grandmother, dead before I was born, was bipolar. With a depressed mother, I worried in high school, in a melodramatic sort of way, that I was doomed to follow in their footsteps, though there was no… Read More

I worked for ASI for 3 1/2 years, selling video training and associated products to the tech industry. I was a top sales person, but being a professional woman in sales in 1981 was still a novelty. I had no background in software or business. A headhunter introduced me to the team at Management Decision… Read More

Okay, I admit it. I’ve always been a lousy speller. Though one might not expect this from a straight A student, it is true. I can’t account for it. Perhaps it has to do with lack of ability to visualize abstractions in my head. I don’t know; it just is true. In fifth grade  (the… Read More

I have done a lot of volunteer work in the last 32 years, since retiring from paid employment. I divide that work into two categories: working on behalf of places that benefit my children and giving back to places that helped me become the person I am. I grew up in a household where my… Read More

  The candles in my Featured photo were my mother’s. There are two pairs. I don’t even know how old they are; just a bit younger than I am. They’ve graced countless Thanksgiving tables through the years. Their sweet faces are rather the worse for wear, but they must come out every year and be… Read More

My mother set tight limits on me when I was young. I was not trendy. I did not wear go-go boots, Mondrian dresses, Twiggy eyelashes. She didn’t let me pierce my ears when all my friends did. I did not have a blunt cut “Sassoon” hairstyle. I didn’t go ga-ga over the boy bands of… Read More

Dan needed his Brigham’s vanilla ice cream! I had finished all the grocery shopping for Thanksgiving days earlier. The last place I wanted to be at 4pm on the day before Thanksgiving last year was a big supermarket, but Dan wanted his Brigham’s! So I dutifully trekked the mile to the Star Market, grabbed up… Read More