Spring is in the air! Well, maybe, not really. But it sure beats the brutal cold and snow that hung around here for the last few months. Just the promise of warmer weather has helped me beat the Winter Blues. And, there is so much to look forward to: like Daylight Saving Time, which begins on March 11, giving us a little more “daytime” to enjoy.

Have you ever had trouble forgiving someone? I mean, some things are just unforgivable. Right? I just finished reading a recently published book about forgiveness which I found to be very inspirational: Taming the Tokolash – Through Fear into Healing: A Trauma Survivor’s True Story, written by Mandy Bass. This is a story about a woman who was brutally attacked by a young man and how she forgave him – an act that changed his life, and hers – forever.

I always look forward to a brand-new year – it’s like starting over with a clean slate. But, I want to take a few moments and reflect back on my 2017. It was a challenging year in some respects, but I like to view challenges as learning experiences and opportunities for personal growth. I had many positive experiences in 2017 – here are of few of the highlights.

My Christmas Eves now are filled with visits from my three children and five grandchildren. For them, I like to re-create the simplicity of Christmas Eves I enjoyed when I was growing up. The day was always filled with excitement for me and my three siblings, and we’d spend most of the day wrapping gifts for each other and our parents, and putting them under the tree. We always put up the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve and decorated it while drinking hot cocoa, eating sweets and Christmas cookies, and playing Christmas carols on the piano. There was a lot of laughter and a lot of love.

I’m sure you’ve heard Sarah Palin’s quote about hockey moms: “They say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull – lipstick.” I’ve never really completely agreed with that. Hockey moms are so much more. They are tough, dedicated, hardworking, caring, and they have the gumption to help their child to succeed in the fast-paced world of hockey.

I think September is one of my favorite months of the year. It’s the last month of summer and the weather isn’t too hot, the sunsets and sunrises are brilliant, and it offers the last chance to enjoy the final days of summer before the fall chill sets in.

It was 43 years ago, August 8, 1974 – a day that I will never forget – when Richard Milhous Nixon resigned as President of the United States of America. For me, it was a very exciting time in my life. I was living in Washington D.C., working as a secretary for President Nixon’s speechwriters. I worked long days and sometimes long into the night when a speech was being written. I had recently married and was enjoying life as a newlywed. After growing up in a very small town, I loved visiting the plethora of museums, restaurants and art galleries, attending cultural events, and all the diversity the city had to offer.

My City Magazine has recently highlighted the art collections of various Greater Flint community members. I’d like to tell you a little about my own.

School’s out for the summer! Like most kids, I couldn’t wait for the last day of school when I was growing up. There was so much to look forward to – lazy days in the sun and a huge pile of Nancy Drew mysteries to read while sitting in the old red rocker on the back porch. But what I looked forward to most was our family summer vacation. We always went somewhere exciting.

Memorial Day is the time we honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice while serving our country. It is a day of remembrance, parades and ceremonies. The Memorial Day weekend is also the kickoff to summer, and many people in Michigan head up north to camp, fish, go boating, or enjoy a picnic or barbecue with family and friends. I recently recalled a particular Memorial Day weekend – the worst ever!

Okay, I admit it: I’m a cat person. I come from a family of cat lovers and there hasn’t been a day in my life that I haven’t had a cat as a pet. That’s why I was very upset when I received a hysterical telephone call from my daughter, in tears, telling me her beloved cat, Maddy, had gone over the Rainbow Bridge. I was upset, because I have lost dearly-loved pets and I knew how she felt. Our pets become so entwined with our lives that when they die, it feels like we’ve lost a family member. My daughter was forlorn for many days.

Nothing puts a spring in your step faster than a warm, sunny spring day! And if we are lucky, the warm spell we enjoyed at the end of February will continue on into March. But it’s Michigan, so you never know. It could be raining, storming, 20 degrees below zero … or we could get a foot of snow in March (or April, or May). Nothing surprises us Michiganders. Regardless of the weather, the month of March brings us much to look forward to.