Road in Retirement

Irish Roots On Monday, March 17, I will be honoring the passing of a special person with a toast of Baileys. In my road in retirement with Parkinson’s and a brain-bleed speech impediment, these moments have a bit more meaning because they add to my purpose. No, I will be honoring not only St. Patrick but my mother, Rita, as well. You see, my mom has sown principles, maybe even unknown to her, that St. Patrick lived by. She always prided the Irish side of her heritage and genes, O’Cullen, and in that spirit, many of us kids ended up with Irish-origin names; but we also took hold of some of that St. Patrick resiliency.  St. Patrick’s Influence St. Patrick was enslaved by Irish raiders or pirates who took him from his native Scotland to Ireland, where he was sold into slavery for six years. During that immensely dark time in his life, he endured great hardship. But later on, as a missionary priest to Ireland, he returned to Ireland and brought Christianity to Ireland, gained sainthood...

Be Still in Phoenix My last blog teed up what I’d been calling “be still” moments I experienced while vacationing a few days in the Phoenix, Arizona area with Chris and my younger son. To me, a be still moment is just taking a pause and focusing for a minute on God and his awesome presence, no matter the circumstances. When Moses killed an Egyptian and fled for the desert in a hurry (Exodus 3), no longer as a prince but as a fugitive, God had him stop and be still for a few moments, and then he spoke to Moses through a fiery blazing shrub. When Elijah killed the prophets of Baal and then ran into the desert fearing the wrath of Jezebel (1 Kings 19), God had him be still and then spoke to him through a still, small voice or gentle whisper. I haven’t killed anyone recently, but I needed some time in the desert and some be-still moments. First “Be Still” Moment To be truthful, one of my most poignant “be still” moments was within an hour after we arrived in Phoenix in a Walmart parking lo...

Divine Nudges Anticipating and hoping that 2025 would be a better year for me and my husband than the past two, we decided to hit the ground running and head to Phoenix for some rays. I was looking forward to some “be still” time. I was dawdling in my motivation to write this blog with a theme of “be still” until I was nudged by people, who I think were being nudged by God. Have you ever been nudged by the Almighty? The Bible is full of examples. My Divine Nudge In three weeks, I had three divine nudges to stop being idle and get to writing. The first one came from a friend who texted a verse in Exodus to our bike group where the Israelites who just left Egyptian servitude and were fleeing in the desert of Sinai, came to the Red Sea only to look back and see Pharoah’s army bearing down on them. Amidst their screams and panic, God tells them to be still or silent and he will fight for them. My friend was moved by the thought of trusting God, resting in silent stillness. The second nudge...

Road in Retirement Disability Update If you’re one of those people who love a lingering holiday season that stretches long into January or early February, then this blog is for you. If you’re one of those people who pack up all the holiday décor by sundown on December 26, I apologize because this blog involves my Christmas Holiday road in retirement. But first a quick update on my health. My voice has gone from soft yet audible to nearly nonexistent in the past few weeks and we're hoping to turn this around, even if just a smidge, with some speech therapy. I finally connected with a speech therapist here in town who also has expertise in assessing the use of communication devices. Other Parkinson's Disease symptoms have progressed as well, but a couple positives include improved metabolism and my cognitive is all there . . . hunky dory (Chris says that might be debatable). God Bridged the Distance with Jesus In my last blog, I highlighted how much I like connecting during the h...

A Special Season for Many a Reason During this time of year, we all hear the clarion call of the season—a resounding reminder to focus on the true meaning of Christmas relative to whatever you believe. Maybe for some, it’s a time for giving philanthropically. For others perhaps it's all about connecting with family and friends near and far. Maybe it's connecting with folks you haven’t seen for days weeks months or years; or on the flip side, it's stopping and connecting with someone right underneath your nose; like kids, spouses, significant others, or an ornery neighbor. We are besieged with cantankerous reminders all through this season to keep it sacred and special: Hallmark movies, TV sitcoms, tear-jerking commercials from far away children’s hospitals, special local news reports of some community social cause in action, messages from preachers and pastors from the pulpit, email and text messages from charitable organizations known and unknown to us, and of course Holid...

Updates After my traumatic setback with deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery in May 2023, I was giving all my friends, relatives, and prayer partners updates. All of that stopped gradually as my husband and I just got tired, but I’ll provide a summary here because I have had so many inquiries.  Home and Care First, we have been receiving consistent in-home care for about a year, which has allowed me to enjoy home comforts and activities and allowed Chris to work and find respite. I have basically one dedicated care provider and then a collection of them from another agency. They are all professionals but might as well be sisters because we get along so well. One of my greatest de-stressors throughout my youth, college, and married life has been to bake. My husband brags that I can look at a dessert picture in a magazine and make the item from scratch to taste and look exactly the same. That’s not true but let him go ahead and believe that. So baking continues and my care people hav...