I was 26 years old when I lost my sight. A Vietnam Veteran who was blinded in a military training accident was assigned to teach me how to cook. A friend who visited me at Braille Jail (that’s what I called the facility I was sent to in order to learn new blind skills) told […]

Regular readers know that Hackney’s is our local pub. We’re there enough that Ulrich Sandmeyer, of Sandmeyer’s Bookstore halfway down the street between our condo and Hack’s, calls it Beth’s office. It’s a luxury of sorts to finish up a day of work and have a friendly place just a block away. Apart from the […]

Our guest blogger John Craib-Cox is the proud father of a son and two grandchildren in London and a daughter and granddaughter here in Chicago. He signed up for a memoir-writing class shortly after his wife Tessa died unexpectedly on July 17, 2012. That was four years ago today. She was 67. Tessa Craib Cox […]

She’s a woman, we’re about the same age, and we’re both survivors. The most significant thing I have in common with Theresa May, though? It’s actually one thing we both would rather do without: the new British Prime Minister and I have Type 1 diabetes. Millions of people have diabetes. Only a small fraction of […]

Whew. I’m tired. Beth and I traveled to Oconomowoc, Wisconsin Saturday afternoon—a strategic location for our long awaited trip with our son Gus and his Aunt Bev to a Milwaukee Brewers game. But not just any game. At this game, every single attendee received an alarm clock. But not just any alarm clock: A Bob […]