Life Management

Guidelines that Work When Closing Down the Family Home
Posted: 11 years ago | By: Christine Somers | In: Life Management | Read Time: 4 minutes, 40 seconds
We sat at the dining room table looking at all the jewelry my mother had collected over her lifetime. Several pieces evoked special memories that we shared with one another. Unbeknownst to us, Mom had saved our infant wristbands, blue for Ed and pink for Julia and me that we wore home from the hospital when we were born. It was a bittersweet afternoon as we decided what pieces each of us wou...
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General

Making Halloween Memories That Truly Matter
Posted: 11 years ago | By: Christine Somers | In: General | Read Time: 2 minutes, 19 seconds
The new favorite tag line of the Madison Avenue world of advertising seems to be "let's go make some memories". The camera follows a zealous 30 something Dad who is bounding out the door as he declares it is time to take the new car and go make some memories. Or better yet as a bunch of hyperactive kids put on their best I can't believe I just won the Miss America contest face as an ann...
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General

Inheritance: Your Place in the Family
Posted: 11 years ago | By: Christine Somers | In: General | Read Time: 5 minutes, 4 seconds
{the view from our lakehouse}My father's philosophy was clear, inheritance was all about your place in the family. So it was no surprise that my parent's estate was split evenly between my brother, sister and me. My sister and I did joke that if my mother had her way all their worldly goods would go to the dog, her favorite in t...
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General

Pumpkins, Candy and Scary Costumes
Posted: 11 years ago | By: Christine Somers | In: General | Read Time: 2 minutes, 28 seconds
When I was a kid, Halloween was the ideal holiday. It was all about creativity and candy. My mom always made costumes for my brother and me. Her greatest design was the one-eyed one horned flying purple people eater based on the novelty song of the same name. Mom was so proud of her creation and our costume was the hit of the neighborhood. Each year we would decorate paper bags with...
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Life Management

Life's Paperwork: Living Will, Power of Attorney and Last Will & Testament
Posted: 11 years ago | By: Christine Somers | In: Life Management | Read Time: 4 minutes, 47 seconds
In a previous post, I listed the legal documents everyone should have in place but since Mom's death I have real world reasons why these legal tools are necessary. Yeah, I know, nobody wants to think about illness and death and putting these documents in place acknowledges that we have an expiration date and nobody wants to think about that. But as I said before, if you get your paperwork...
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Intentional Living Series

Living an Intentional Life Together
Posted: 11 years ago | By: Christine Somers | In: Intentional Living Series | Read Time: 1 minute, 39 seconds
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. -Mahatma GandhiFor the last few weeks I have been writing about my family, friends and bits and pieces of my life through the lens of intentional living but I've realized something is missing.  I was discussing my blog with my sister and that I was writing about living an intent...
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Family & Relationships

The Decision is Yours to Make
Posted: 11 years ago | By: Christine Somers | In: Family & Relationships | Read Time: 2 minutes, 35 seconds
When she put her head on the dinning room table, the entire family just stared at my mom. Finally, my son, Matthew said, “Grandmother are you okay?” No she wasn’t. My father had died three months earlier and this was her first holiday without him in over 50 years. She was struggling; we were all struggling. Dad’s funeral had been emotionally charged and strained my relationship with my...
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Family & Relationships

Getting the Answers Before It's Too Late
Posted: 11 years ago | By: Christine Somers | In: Family & Relationships | Read Time: 3 minutes, 21 seconds
Her response to my email was disappointing but not completely unexpected. In the oodles and oodles of photographs that I have been scanning, I found three 8 ½ by 11 black and white wedding photographs. It was not my parents wedding or anyone else in the family. Candidly, my family has a history of eloping so I was pretty certain these must have been friends of the family. My father was par...
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