Tag: Dave
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Final step in learning to paddle board: celebrate success

In my blog post, Learning to paddle board: A gentle reminder of life lessons on success, yesterday, I forgot a crucial element of success. Frankly, it’s a little embarrassing that I left out the final step, but I did. I suppose my only excuse is that after my 8-month hiatus, I’ve gotten a little rusty…
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Learning to paddle board: A gentle reminder of life lessons on success

As I do every August, I spent last week at Watervale. As my dear friend Woodlawn Wonder has dubbed it, Watervale is my “ancestral family home.” It’s not, but it might as well be because there’s no other place I feel at peace or as connected to myself. I’m also the third of four generations…
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Happy birthday Dave!
Happy birthday to Dave, the greatest brother in the world! I love being your big sister and having you as my best friend. Please join me wishing Dave a very happy birthday in the comments. Want to know more about Dave? Check out these posts: Dad, can I have herpes?, April 2009 Happy birthday Dave!,…
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What are your family traditions?

My dad is the second of five children born to Giff and Peggy Gardner – Giff, John (my dad), Jeff, Kathy, and Ray. When we moved to Chicago from Ft. Myers, Florida in 1975, the entire extended family lived in the Chicago Area and we got together regularly. I have vivid memories of family dinners…
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My favorite name is Sister

October 5th marked the 40th anniversary of when I gave up the name “Only Child” and took on “Sister.” As I recall it, it was a bright early October day when my brother Dave came into the world. Fall had hit and we were wearing socks with our sandals in Ft. Myers, Florida. It was…
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Watervale Bingo: Mark Your Cards for Days 3 and 4

You know what the great thing about vacation is? The lack of schedule. There was a moment yesterday when I was standing on the steps of the Inn and asked myself, “what day is it?” That’s truly the sign that I’ve checked out of life as I’m accustomed to it and am fully engulfed in…
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Lies My Parents Told Me

Things have been kind of heavy here at Little Merry Sunshine recently, so I’m going to lighten the mood a little for the next few days. Over at The Tot Wrangler, a wonderful ChicagoNow blog that you should be reading, there’s been a very lively discussion about lies parents tell their children. Read Part 1…
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Happy National Siblings Day

According to my Facebook wall, today is National Siblings Day. All of my friends are posting pics of their siblings and spouting lovely platitudes about just how great their siblings are, blah, blah, blah. I hate to break it to all of you, but I have the most supercalifragilisticexpialidocious brother ever. EVEH. Let me tell you why your…
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When is an Olympics Gold Medal not an Olympics Gold Medal?

As we near the end of the Winter Olympics, I’m reminded of one of my favorite stories about my brother Dave. Yes, Dave of the Herpes story fame. No, Dave doesn’t have Herpes. Read the story. Dave is a little more than three years younger than me and probably a million times smarter than me,…