Opinion

I refuse to call something I want to do” bucket list”. To me that seems to imply you have put an ending point to everything and from that point on, well it’s a done deal. I prefer a need to see or do list. One of the items on my list was a trip to New Orleans. New Orleans is a city that is constantly moving. Being on the Mississippi river at the crescent turn of the water. Trade and history are a big part of the story. The people of New Orleans want you there. They are friendly and helpful. They are fun and pleasant and grateful for tourists. The weather in late October was perfect. 70 deg with little humidity. There were a couple of mornings with showers, but the sun showed up for the afternoon. The trees were green and pretty. The flowers were beautiful. The architecture was amazing. French, Spanish and modern. There was a story and a history behind everything. I traveled with my neighbor Dana who has relocated with her husband to Texas with his employer. It was a girl’s trip. We purchased transportation passes for trolly, bus and even ferry. They were cheap and made our excursions super easy. We stayed in the Garden District. The trolly ran right outside the front door of the place we stayed. Trolly cars are clean. Safe and full of tourists and locals traveling without using their own vehicles. They run every 15 minutes. You get on, flash your pass and take a seat. Dana oversaw destinations and trolly changes. She gets and A+ for tour guide. Our first day we visited St Louis Cemetery #1. Final resting place of many prominent New Orleans families. Plus, the believed resting place of Marie Laveau. She was the proclaimed Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. Being built in hurricane territory and on the Mississippi, the cemeteries are above ground mausoleums holding many generations of the same family. Reused and reburied constantly. The history is amazing. We saw amazing history of the city. We did it at our own pace. We ate great food. My only negative take away is

Libraries have come a long way, baby, from when I was a little girl strolling with my parents into the Mid-Continent Public Library in Claycomo, a Kansas City suburb, to obtain my first library card. I was a new reader, and excited by the vast number of books the library held. Back then, the mid-1960’s, the library was primarily a place to check out books or conduct research for a report. My young mind would never in a million years have dreamed of what libraries would become by 2022. You see, libraries in most communities have changed with the times. The public can still check out books and do reports, but there’s much more going on. Libraries serve communities in many more ways; in fact, some are learning centers for their neighborhoods. There are libraries where people can obtain passports, register to vote, get online to research genealogy or apply for a job, learn how to speak languages, knit, hold classes and events. Libraries, if implemented properly, are community centers.

Lucky for me it was the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop and not a Dress for Success workshop I was attending. If you’re familiar with Erma Bombeck you know that as one of America’s most beloved humor columnists, she would have seen humor where someone else might have seen… well…room for improvement in me. For starters, I arrived late. Moments before it was set to close, I slid in at the conference registration table like a batter into first base. While I signed in, my assistant, who is also my husband, went to the hotel desk to register. I call him my assistant because he was there to be at my beck and call. He just didn’t know it yet.

Dear Amy: I am the grandmother of two wonderful kids - a 7-year-old girl and 3-year-old boy. My son-in-law has been overly critical of my granddaughter since she was four, and now is starting to treat the younger child the same.

Lucky for me it was the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop and not a Dress for Success workshop I was attending. If you’re familiar with Erma Bombeck you know that as one of America’s most beloved humor columnists, she would have seen humor where someone else might have seen… well…room for improvement in me.

There’s an underestimated life skill that either makes or breaks a person’s trajectory in life. It can actually advance or end careers. It’s not something people generally think about as a helpful trait unless you are an educator, coach, parent, or boss. It is the trait of being coachable or teachable. We tend to think of sports when we contemplate it, and it is important on the court or on the field, but it also imperative for personal and professional growth. I believe it is fair to say that without this skill or characteristic, our growth can be stunted.

A person can experience a panic attack when they least expect it. This can cause a great deal of fear and anxiety for the person.

As you know, I did some traveling recently. I do love to travel. I usually however wish to be back home right after I have arrived. I am ready to go. I think the travel part is the most fun. The destination is usually secondary.

The other day in a conversation with friends at work, we were discussing life and how we wished we knew when we were young, what we know now. It got me to thinking how we fail to realize the importance of so many universal truths until later in life.

I refuse to call something I want to do” bucket list”. To me that seems to imply you have put an ending point to everything and from that point on, well it’s a done deal. I prefer a need to see or do list. One of the items on my list was a trip to New Orleans. New Orleans is a city that is constantly moving. Being on the Mississippi River at the crescent turn of the water. Trade and history are a big part of the story. The people of New Orleans want you there. They are friendly and helpful. They are fun and pleasant and grateful for tourists. The weather in late October was perfect. 70 degree with little humidity. There were a couple of mornings with showers, but the sun showed up for the afternoon. The trees were green and pretty. The flowers were beautiful. The architecture was amazing. French, Spanish and modern. There was a story and a history behind everything. I traveled with my neighbor Dana who has relocated with her husband to Texas with his employer. It was a girls’ trip. We purchased transportation passes for a trolly, bus and even ferry. They were cheap and made our excursions super easy. We stayed in the Garden District. The trolly ran right outside the front door of the place we stayed. Trolly cars are clean. safe and full of tourists and locals traveling without using their own vehicles. They run every 15 minutes. You get on, flash your pass and take a seat. Dana oversaw destinations and trolly changes. She gets an A+ for tour guide. Our first day we visited St Louis Cemetery #1. Final resting place of many prominent New Orleans families. Plus, the believed resting place of Marie Laveau. She was the proclaimed Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. Being built in hurricane territory and on the Mississippi, the cemeteries are above ground mausoleums holding many generations of the same family. Reused and reburied constantly. The history is amazing. We saw amazing history of the city. We did it at our own pace. We ate great food. My only negative take awa