I can’t get the Diary of Anne Frank out of my mind or soul. Watching rehearsals and feeling the build-up of the PCS Theater production has given me spiritual healing – saying it’s cathartic seems to trivialize what the Director, the cast, and the crew are all about. ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ rarely knocks… Continue reading The Diary Behind The Diary of Anne Frank
This muse is a bit unusual because why not? I was singing along to John Legend, and his lyrics skipped me by all those times I listened to his song “All of Me.” Get this, he sings: “You’re my muse!” Of course, it made me think he was singing about us. We have such a… Continue reading About Me – The Muse Within
I somehow skipped over the Happy New Year and the resolution to muse with you once a week, which I would have already broken, and now it’s February. Adulting is hard work! What can I say? I’ve been busy spinning my wheels, though. Convinced I needed AI to improve my writing game, I spent countless… Continue reading Adulting with Awe and Rediscovering Serendipitous Joy
Here’s our picture-perfect joy to the world this holiday season. Ever wonder what’s beyond the greetings? Same with those Hallmark Christmas chick movies. You only have to unwrap one to get to the heart of them all. With a predictable, sappy plot, the girl always gets the guy at the end. Yet, I’ve fallen in… Continue reading Beyond The Greetings: Unwrapping The Heart of Hallmark Christmas Chick Flicks
I started amuse4mama four years ago, at the halfway point of my life, when I turned 50, to take stock without considering how it would impact anyone else. You know when you ask, Do I want my remaining years to be half-empty or half-full? Half full, no doubt! That’s the correct answer! However, the total… Continue reading Happy 4 Year Muse – iversary!
It’s one of my favorite Thanksgiving memories–no gravy stress here! This isn’t about the past; we’re discussing what’s on our plates tomorrow. Let’s do the Hokey Pokey Thanksgiving has arrived! We’ll get there, don’t worry, but first, a word or two about gravy stress. One Friendsgiving, we gathered around the kitchen stove, waiting for the… Continue reading What Thanksgiving Needs: An Attitude Adjustment, Thank You!
A sunset reminds us that life is beautiful even when we can’t see it. I’m working exceptionally hard on reframing how I view things. I’m battling an all-out war to get these negative thoughts to be positive. I hide it as cleverly as possible with these muses, ensuring that “all’s well that ends well” every… Continue reading Reframing Tragedy–One Hug At A Time
When Stephanie Ortiz, aka Mama, wrote a controversial article that gets wiped clean of the internet for 14+ hours of “housekeeping,” suspicious? Getting censored, if only it means your Philly Flair article on Tigre Hill’s “72 Seconds in Rittenhouse Square” can’t be read by anyone, does something to you. Don’t get me wrong. I couldn’t… Continue reading Psst! Don’t Tell Them Mama Told You
Twenty-three years ago. I went to Bolivia filled with youth, health, and an adventurous silver streak in my otherwise brown hair, but I couldn’t appreciate the riches of the Wild West of Bolivia the way my father-in-law (Papito) did. He drew from those riches when we first met at their apartment in Washington, DC. We… Continue reading The Mother Lode Of The Wild West, Bolivia
A Three-Year Reprieve From Cancer & I’m Still Standing It’s my third cancer anniversary, or if we’re going with the BC/AD time stamp (before cancer/after diagnosis), mark your calendars. It’s 3 AD. As they say, hindsight’s 20/20, and in my case, hindsight’s 2020. (That’s the year I got diagnosed). And I just had my last… Continue reading Hindsight’s 2020!
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