Public Posts Bellevue, WA Bellevue, WA (zoom)

Long grow the shadow,
beyond the far, away hill,
where you will find plants,
like the golden Daffodill.

A plant grown commercially,
for many a year,
but in the wilderness,
will suddenly appear.

Resulting from a Pioneer,
family who built a home,
where the wildlife was plenty,
and the buffalo would roam.

How hard it must have
been to start with nothing
and rebuild your home
comfort, safety again.

A great day.
A grand event.
talked to my cousin,
who I'd never met.

I will say,
with a smile,
it was if I'd known
her for a long while.

We were not strangers,
She was a friend.
Someone who
helped me to mend.

Thank you, my cousin,
for helping me.
Hoping in the Spring,
You, I will see.

A room full of goodbyes
is what I see, in the Memory
Care facility, as family members,
come to visit loved ones.
A sadness permeates the air,
as small white lies are delivered,
by those leaving.
See you next week or I'll be back
to see you soon.
An unsavory situation? No, just
a way to say your goodbye to
a loved one.

What has happened
to the one I love.
Why is she this way,
forsaken by God above?

Who would treat their
children in this way?
No one I know, but
still, they will say,

Trust in God,
in every way,
things will get better,
believe, hope and pray.

I am sorry, I cannot.
No longer will I be,
a believer in you.
A false God I see.

Are you happy,
with your life, today?
Does your loved one help,
or get in the way?

Do they support,
all which you do?
Are they employed,
or relying on you?

There are those,
who choose to exist,
not carrying their weight,
unless you insist.

Not saying or implying,
this is you.
Talk is cheap,
others must do.

It was a time of sadness,
for he.
It was a time of madness,
for she.
It was a time for anger,
for she.
It was a time for staying,
for he.
It was a time of ending,
for we.

I don't care.
Not anymore.
My hearts shattered,
laying on the floor.

She can't help it,
rings in my head.
She won't remember,
those words I dread.

When the one you love,
is angry, seeing in her face,
with hate for you in her eyes,
I know I've lost the race.

Of all the things,
in this Worldwide,
the most precious are,
when you are by my side.

As part of a growing national dialogue around hospice abuse, trade groups and government watchdog agencies are pushing regulators to make changes.
Last week, the four largest hospice trade associations jointly sent a detailed memo of policy proposals to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which regulates the end-of-life care benefit. Their 34 recommendations, which span eight pages, directly address the alarming business practices outlined by a recent ProPublica-New Yorker investigation...... Read more

This week's post is the true retelling of what happened one recent Christmas to me and my family. I was beginning to lose all hope for a joyful family Christmas. But then it happened. I like to think of it as a Christmas miracle.
Read what happened and decide for yourself. Do you believe in miracles?

Author's note: Although I normally attempt to write a humorous story - after all this IS a humor website - every now and then I choose to write something serious, from the heart. This is one of those situations. - TEJ
This is the 100% true story of my wife's and my adoption stories. Our two daughters, now all grown up, joined our family roughly one year apart, when we traveled to China on two separate occasions to adopt. Read about the powerful experience that I never could have imagined would have happened to me, and which changed my life forever, in a profoundly positive way - twice.

Kids are naturally curious. But various forces in the environment can dampen their curiosity over time. Can anything be done to keep kids’ curiosity alive? Read more