Martini Musings

Ash Wednesday – the Lenten Journey Begins! It’s the time of year when we begin our Lenten journey. For most people I know, Catholic or not, Ash Wednesday kicks off our 40 days of Lent, a season of self reflection and reconciliation. Also, for those who know me, you know I struggle with the Catholic church. I believe in God and I pray. I celebrate Sundays with a Zoom Mass that includes a group of people that feel like me. The priest serves us and preaches just like I’m used to but we discuss the homily as a group after he provides his reflection and thoughts. We all contribute to the prayers of the faithful any find out how everyone is doing. It is fulfilling and has taken the place of my Sunday Mass routine prior to my divorce. I haven’t “left the church” but I have struggled with many areas of the church…mostly things that we all question, and I decided not to attend because I am not a cafeteria Catholic, picking and choosing what I want to believe. Okay, no preaching and no judging f...

  OLD or NOT? How do you judge whether or not you are old? Your age? Your body aches? Being tired? Forgetting things—ALL THE TIME? Gray hair? Or is there anything else? Sometimes, I feel my age and sometimes I don’t! But on Monday, I got my Medicare card and although I can’t wait to have Medicare, my 86+ year-old Mom said, “Gosh, I never thought I’d live long enough to see one of my kids go on Medicare!” Welp…that may have made me feel just a little old. Seriously though, I am grateful for the Medicare that will become activated on June 1, the month of my birthday and I’ll be so ready. When I got divorced, I was working at Mt. Notre Dame and I was able to get onto the Archdiocese plan. It was all new to me, but I was grateful to have coverage, since I knew COBRA was so expensive. That worked fine…until I quit my job at MND. Before that happened, I had to find a policy. Since I am a USAA member (through my Dad’s service!), I decided to try and get a policy through them. They...

  Re-Boot! Re-Boot! Happy Wednesday friends! Thanks for the kindness shown last week when I said “I’ve had a day!” Yes, it had been a tough day, but I know, we all have them. It seemed like it was just one of those days and my coping mechanisms were not working. When the going gets tough, the friends come out from all over and for that, thank you! I know that I have a huge tribe of friends, all over Louisville and Cincinnati and beyond. Thanks for showing me your love! In the process of trying to get my “mo-jo” back last week, I was invited to an overnight with a friend. She was determined to get me out for dinner and a night when I could get some good sleep and RE-BOOT! That’s exactly what I needed, a re-boot. Coming out of the Covid chaos with all of us being sick and trying to care for Mom and Dad had been more draining than I realized. When the computer is in a rut or running slow…I re-boot. This time, I was going to have a human re-boot. Last night, I went straig...

  Damn! Damn! Damn!   Please forgive the un-lady-like title, but honestly, I don’t know what else to say. I could have said, “How did this happen?” or “Where did we get it?” or “WTH?” or any number of things but the fact remains that Covid came into our house, like the demon it is. Dad started last Monday with a cold, which got worse, so he went to the doctor…positive for Covid on Thursday. Mom tested positive on Friday, and of course, I tested positive on Saturday (for the second time this year!). Instantly, the house became an infirmary. We isolated Dad in my room and I stayed with Mom in the family room or in their bedroom. As luck would have it, Joey tested positive too so he was isolating at his home. Trust me when I say, it was not pretty! We were a harmonious trio of coughers! We were sneezing and coughing at the same time (snoughing). We were achy and couldn’t sit still. We just wanted to sleep and for some of us, it came and for others, it did not. This time...

  Here We Go Again! I know I have said this before but I have a Love/Hate relationship with Facebook. I’ve often wondered about the whole Facebook thing. When I first joined, Katie (my own daughter) would not “friend” me and I was offended. Ummmm…I think I was in my mid-50s, so I think my reaction was a bit immature. Once I became “cool” with her friends, she finally “friended” me and I felt like I had won a medal. Fast forward to the various political elections in the past 10-15 years and I found myself commenting, regretting, commenting, regretting, and making a commitment to not comment on any political posts. Then I got weak and got back to making comments again. Got mad, regretted, promised to stay positive, yadda yadda yadda. Then, more politics and Covid and posts and regrets and loss and all the rest! Finally, I think I have learned to manage those posts, mainly by just scrolling on by! Most of the time, these things just leave my mind. Recently, however, I’ve found mys...

  Are you happy? Are you happy? I mean are you really happy? Did you know that over 300 million adults in the world live in total loneliness? If you watched the Sunday Morning show, with Jane Pauley this past weekend, you saw this information. The thing that I came away from after watching the show was everyone needs one friend that you can call if you are in trouble, you are sick or sad, if you want to share some wonderful news, if you need help or if you just need a friend…the 3am friend! Someone you can call 24/7 and feel safe. Some of you may say your spouse or significant other, but a lot of people don’t have anyone and some people have a long list, according to the study on happiness. Having friends, especially that one 3am friend, is the key to real happiness. I think I have a pretty good list of those people. I have to think that some on my friends feel the same way. If you don’t, feel free to add me. I also learned that there are two categories of happiness…Happi...

  What’s Your Word? With the start of the new year, I have seen the typical posts about resolutions and most recently, the people posting about their “word of the year!” That is new to me! Maybe I’m a little behind the times, but having a “word of the year” seems a lot easier than a list of resolutions that don’t go very far. Why haven’t I heard about this? I have seen a variety of words…Love, Peace, Believe, Enough, Kindness, etc… and I decided I need to come up with my “word of the year!” This seemed like an easy task. However, as you might guess, narrowing down my answers to just one word, is not easy. I have decided that I will have three “words of the year” to live by! Feel free to borrow, or let me know what your one, two, or three words might be. Word #1…Energy ! I am going to try and work on my energy level. I feel like I either run on empty or I’m like the Energizer bunny. Somehow, I’d like to find a happy medium. Since I am no longer in a job that demands my e...