Posts Tagged "family"
How Did We End Up Here?
I spent most of this week at the hospital with an elderly family member recovering from another medical crisis. Frequent hospitalizations, aging and a need for a better plan required some serious conversations around what the future holds. We all have visions of staying home for as long as possible and avoiding living our final years in a nursing home. Having worked in senior health care for most of my career it isn’t any easier when it’s someone you love faced with tough decisions. Health care providers are facilitating these emotional conversations around end of life and encouraging us to talk about our wishes and preferences for care when we...
Read MoreMoving and Managing Change
I’ve been celebrating significant family events the past few weeks, a baptism, graduation and wedding just this weekend. As spring rolls into early summer I’m also surrounded by boxes as we pack up our belongings and prepare to move into another house. I’ve been thinking and feeling my way though all the changes in my life and I realized that this house we’ve lived in for 17 years no longer feels like our home. My husband and I have been feeling the effects of transition as we send extra furniture and clothes to charitable organizations and family members. We had a chance to reflect on how much we enjoyed giving useful items to family members or those...
Read MoreHappy Birthday Rae – 100 Years Old Today!
Last year at this time I wrote about my friend Nancy’s mother Rae Gaida who lives at Heritage Park a community for seniors in Bradenton, Florida. Rae wrote about celebrating her 99th birthday last year by reminiscing about the events that occurred during her life as follows: When I was born, - William Taft was President. - Einstein developed his Theory of Relativity when I was 5. - I was 10 when women received the right to vote. - Lindbergh did the first trans-Atlantic flight when I was 17 - Television came on the scene when I was 18. - Prohibition was going on between ages 8 through 23 (thank goodness that ended because I do appreciate a good martini)! -...
Read MoreIn Honor of Veterans
Dad WWII POW It’s Memorial Day week end and I stopped by the florist yesterday to order a small wreath to place on my father’s grave at Fort Snelling Cemetery. Memorial Day is a special day of remembrance for our veterans and my Dad always made sure we understood the contributions of those who served because of his own military experience. In honor of veterans I want to share one of Dad’s stories from his video recordings of his WWII/POW experience. “Well, I was born and raised on a farm in Texas, I joined the service (US ARMY) in 1941 just before the war started, I had my training in Texas. From Texas they were filling in right now...
Read MoreNobody Cooks Anymore
I was driving by some restaurants when I heard my father’s voice, “Nobody Cooks Anymore,” that was one of his favorite sayings when we would go to a restaurant for a meal and a visit. For the last few years of his life our routine was to take Dad out for Sunday breakfast, we’d talk about the week or plan a trip to the doctor at the Veteran’s Hospital. Dad lived with my youngest sister and her family and they kept him pretty engaged in their busy social life but he loved to visit and get out of the house. My father loved to comment on anything going on in the twin cities, he’d bring his favorite Pioneer Press newspaper...
Read MoreQuick Bio
Mary Chapa is a multi-talented woman with a background in nursing leadership, quality management and business development in both health care and private industry; she's also a writer and a passionate holistic health practitioner living in Minnesota.
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