By NANCY PATRICK I did not experience the weight and burden of grief until I was an adult. Although one of my uncles and a grandfather died during my childhood, their deaths did not directly affect me because they did not play an active role in my life. My family had experienced generally good health and few accidents, so surprise
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By NANCY PATRICK I know many people favor fall—the end of long, hot summers and return of cooler weather and beautiful, colorful foliage. Although I do enjoy the brief autumns we have in West Texas, I do not happily anticipate the imminent winter. It’s not the cold weather I dislike but rather the absence of green leaves, blooms, sunshiny days,
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By NANCY PATRICK For many Americans, Christmas celebration has begun. Sometimes people begin their preparations well before Thanksgiving. Although I’ve never done that, I have always tried to get into the spirit immediately after Thanksgiving. Years ago, I found it easier than I do now. At the age of five, my family moved to Texas from Arkansas. We began a
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By NANCY PATRICK I grew up as a big girl. I reached my height of 5’ 7” when I was a twelve-year-old sixth grader. I always stood on the back row for group pictures. As a young girl, my size bothered me, but as an adult, I enjoyed my height and came to realize the normality of my size. Then,
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By NANCY PATRICK I only recently heard the term “enneagram.” I felt a little behind the curve when I discovered that most of my family already knew about it, so I jumped at the chance to attend ACU’s Summit this fall when I saw a two-day course on enneagrams listed in the program. Before you get bored and quit reading,
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By NANCY PATRICK Did you know you can actually look up colors related to causes and find a long list of color symbols? Wikipedia has a list of awareness months and days. Anything that anyone has ever cared about appears on one list or another because we all have our pet peeves, projects, and passions. Something I would like to
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By NANCY PATRICK I often hear people use the terms “caregiver” and “caretaker” interchangeably. Since I have actually served in both positions, I like to distinguish between them. I also like the British term “carer” as it implies the emotion rather than the action of the one who cares. “Caretaking” most often refers to the management of inanimate objects such
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