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Every Year I Forget My Own Anniversary
Dan and I were married on March 4, 2008. The ceremony was performed in a limousine driving up and down the Las Vegas Strip (yes, it all happened seated inside the limo.) Nick and Amanda, Dan’s adult children, were the only guests. It was absolutely perfect!! But since I lost Dan, I have never remembered, on March 4, that my wedding anniversary is on March 4. The only exception is during that first year of grieving, where I went out to dinner with a friend that evening, and in a lovely surprise gesture, another friend called up the restaurant and paid for it. It is a good memory, my friends…
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The European Family Vacation Survival Guide
In 2004, I traveled to Denmark, England and Ireland with my sister, mother and grandmother to visit various relatives on both sides of the family. I envisioned it as a way of reconnecting with our European family and discovering our Danish roots — 3-1/2 weeks of hanging out, catching up and having lots of fun. It wasn’t. Instead, what I hadn’t realized was this: Now that I am an adult, this no longer qualified as a family vacation, because a family vacation is not really a vacation unless you are under the age of 18. Consider using the following tips and reminders for your next family vacation — they just…
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Dan’s Last Texts
I do not understand how it’s been five years since Dan died. My first thought is that somehow, I don’t know how, I have managed to survive for five years without him. After that, I think, I don’t know how I got through the pain, but I did because I am here. Then I realize that not only did I survive, I have thrived. Yes, I have suffered terrible sadness and loneliness and unbearable grief, but I have also been very happy, and deeply loved, and unconditionally supported by so many wonderful people. But even five years later, I still can’t make sense of the dichotomy of these circumstances. I…
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The Most Stressful Time Of The Year
The fact is, the holidays are very stressful. Even if you don’t manifest your stress in illness, like I apparently do, it can be an overwhelming time for so many of us. It never hurts any of us to minimize stress regardless. Here’s my plan, it’s not too late to join me!
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Instant Pot Tips for Beginners
Recently I’ve seen a lot of posts by people underwhelmed or overwhelmed by the Instant Pot which is a bummer because it’s an incredible device. Although I am most definitely still a beginning user, I’m hoping I can help a few newbies with some things that I wish I had known when I got my Instant Pot!
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Since When Did Simple Shredding Become So . . . Complicated?
The good news is, we have finally got to a point in our adult lives that we are able to hire real, live housecleaning professionals. The bad news is, on their very first visit (in their eternal efficiency,) they took away my big pile of “sensitive” documents which I have been accumulating for six months with every intention of sitting down and shredding at some point!
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The Value of Quick Emergency Response
Call the aid car, babe When Dan Potts says call the aid car, you call the aid car. I called 911 right away. At that point we were six months from me calling 911 for the second time, an ambulance ride from which he was not to return home. But we didn’t know that. All I knew that day, as his wife, was that he was lying there in enough pain to ask for help. Dan Potts was the proudest and strongest person I’ve ever known, and he never needed—or asked—for help. But today he did.
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For young athletes, play more important than competition
By Coach Dan Potts Remember lying on the carpet with your infant? How innocent was that? More so than you know! The endless crawling and chasing on all fours allowed us to play at our child’s level of development. Their development depended upon a supply of endless wonder and new stimuli. As they grew and eventually walked, we chased them even more, playing hide and seek, throwing Nerf balls at endless targets, hiding, ducking dodging, until we were exhausted. Do you remember how fast the development occurred? On a daily basis to be exact, and it was fun. But the fun part was that it changed every day for the…
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The European Family Vacation Survival Guide
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Life’s second chances
“The afternoon knows what the morning never expected.”—Robert Frost About three weeks after Dan died, I went down the FIVE Restaurant, one of my “safe” places. I met this woman there, with whom I shared my story over (several) glasses of wine. I’ll never forget, she looked at me and said, “You’ve known a great love. You’ll know another.” I couldn’t even imagine it, at that time. All I wanted was Dan Potts back, alive and well. It was the worst and most painful experience of my life grieving the death of my husband. And I was hurting. Bad. I knew somehow people had survived this so I thought I…
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The many levels of strength
Years ago, when I was starting out in the fitness industry as a trainer, I considered working at a gym that required that all trainers complete a standardized fitness test every six months. There were many reasons I didn’t end up working there (none of which had to do with me being unable to meet those requirements) but I remember thinking that it was ridiculous that every trainer—both men and women in a wide age range—had to meet the same blanket fitness requirements to be considered qualified to train clients. A person who has achieved a certain level of strength and endurance does not magically become a good trainer. Experience,…
