Passengers are sleeping, coughing and sneezing around me. I’m hoping the plane’s ventilation system isn’t spreading the germs to my area. This is not a time to get sick, not when I'm doing my first book signing in Paris. I’m writing this blog post at 35,000 feet over Kansas City, traveling at a speed of 699 miles per hour. We have Continue Reading
“My Gutsy Story” by Kimberly Brower
The Chicken and Beer Dance We get to the dance hall at seven o’clock sharp, and already it seems as if half the town is there. The total population of St. Jacob is barely in the hundreds, but some folks have come from as far away as Alhambra, and there’s barely room to stand let alone sit. In farm country, I have found that each season has its Continue Reading
“My Gutsy Story” by Kathleen Pooler
Choices and Chances Sitting by the bay window on that sunny September day in 1989 soon after we moved from Missouri to Cobleskill, New York, I stared out into the afternoon. I was suspended in a state of pain and worry as I dutifully watched and waited for my fourteen-year old son, Brian, hoping that my anxiety was Continue Reading
Are French Parents More Gutsy?
After reading an article in the Wall Street Journal about "Why French Parents are Superior" by Pamela Druckerman, it finally hit me that some of my child-rearing methods are actually more French than I care to admit. I'm not French, but I spent a good chunk of my youth growing up in the suburbs of Paris. My three sons are adults now, and grew Continue Reading
“My Gutsy Story” by Jill Fales
Remember the feeling of a field trip day at school? A diversion from the routine in the classroom. A palpable excitement exuding from the students wiggling in line to board the broad steps of the school bus. The permission slip was the linchpin to any field trip. I remember carefully placing the detached bottom portion with my mom’s signature Continue Reading