Kelly Learns
A compilation of my columns from the Sunday issues of the Daily Courier, Prescott, Arizona.
I’ve been writing an every-other Sunday column for the Daily Courier in Prescott, AZ since late 2020, thanks to the kind encouragement of long-time columnist Ron Barnes, who spent over 30 years contributing his wisdom not only to the newspaper but to many other people and organizations in the Prescott area. He put in some good words to the publisher and editor for me when he decided to retire from column writing. It’s one of those gifts you never knew you wanted and then realize how grateful you are to have it.
The Daily Courier has exclusive rights to my column for 60 days after publication, which is why you might be reading a Christmas column in February. I love writing but seem to need a project and deadline to do it. Hopefully this blog will inspire me to write more. Thanks for stopping by to check out my site!
The heart of giving
I think I discovered the secret to a long, happy life when I met Ann Wilson last week. Do what you love and it will never feel like work. “I’m going to work for free for the rest of my life,” she says with a smile. She’ll be turning 89 in a few weeks, and her husband Bob is 91, an age when many folks might think of slowing down a little. Instead, they spend their days at the Yavapai County Food Bank, ensuring the folks who need it most in our community have enough to eat. The food bank started at a small church they began attending when they moved to Dewey in 1992. Ann jumped in as a volunteer and brought Bob along, spending their free time together on weekends and after work helping wherever it was needed. By 2001, Ann accepted the full-time executive director role. Bob joined her the...
We should really talk about it
It’s the nature of my job in hospice that many people I meet are in the middle of an urgent health crisis. Someone they love has reached a critical point, and now they have to figure out what happens next. Sometimes it’s an unexpected terminal diagnosis with a...
Oh deer
I have no scientific data to back this up, but this year it feels like there’s more of every type of animal in our neighborhood. The other day I had to stop jogging while two flocks of turkeys with their babies crossed the street to continue eating their fill of...
A lifetime of helping others
If you are lucky enough to make it to the age of 103, it’s likely a lot of people will have special memories about you. When I heard the news that Alton “Al” Cheney had died, some of those moments popped into my head. If you ever met Al, you’d remember him. He’s that...
Sand and snow
We packed up the dogs and headed to the beach a few weeks ago. It may seem odd to visit the ocean in January, but the cheap, off-season prices and the lure of humidity and warmer weather — even if it’s only 60 degrees — sounded good to us. We got off to a later start...
The Great Ice Storm of ’98
I was happy to see the snow coming down last Sunday as I let the dogs out. They bolted down the porch stairs, ripping around the backyard like furry maniacs, kicking up frozen plumes behind them before skidding back up the porch stairs at full speed and staring at me...
A spare resolution
For the past few years, my friend Terri and I have written “Go bowling at Antelope Lanes” as one of our New Year’s resolutions. She is the official keeper of our resolutions from the previous years. When we get together on New Year’s Eve to make fresh ones, we unseal...
Return to sender
When I was a kid, there was nothing I loved more on a hot, sticky Midwest summer day than lying on the living room couch in the air conditioning, reading a book, changing position only when my elbows and back got too stiff from propping me up or my arms fell asleep...
Tree of Remembrance
The blue and yellow strips of paper chains are starting to grow around the Christmas tree in our Marley House chapel. The yellow strips have names carefully written on them: Grandma, Uncle John, Russ, Dorothy, Missy, Kate, Dad. On the blue strips are memories of these...
Memories on the table
The grocery store is filled with reminders we are firmly in the holiday season. Yams soaked in heavy syrup are cozying up next to the marshmallow bags, herbed stuffing has moved next to the turkey gravy and brining kits. Canned cranberries, cream of mushroom soup and...
In the cards
For the past two years, I’ve had the privilege of talking to a group of Ms. Haynes’ eighth-graders at Northpoint Expeditionary Learning Academy about senior and assisted living in this community, sharing a few stories about what it is and why some people end up living...
Living history
I dropped the small, white box into the mailbox at the post office and drove off, wondering what we would find out in a few weeks. After six decades of not knowing anything about his family history, Mike decided to do a DNA test. He was adopted from a French-Catholic...