Category Archives: family

Miracles

Posted on October 27, 2020 by jyourist

As the foundations of democracy threaten to crumble and crash, as decency and tolerance and moral imperative seem to become more and more invisible (non-existent even), as animosity and hatred replace civil discourse, in the midst of all this, a … Continue reading →

Posted in family, light | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

My Aunt and the Black Lawn Jockey

Posted on August 5, 2020 by jyourist

My aunt, my mother’s twin, had a black lawn jockey on her front lawn. It appeared some time in the 60s in the midst of the Civil Rights movement. My cousin, my aunt’s daughter, told me that actually her mother … Continue reading →

Posted in African-Americans, civil rights, equity, family, twins, white privilege | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Puzzled

Posted on April 17, 2020 by jyourist

We ordered five 1000 piece puzzles and I opened one today to work on. Working a puzzle is like meditation. There is a box filled with 1000 pieces of chaos and slowly, through attention to color, pattern, shape, an order … Continue reading →

Posted in centering, family, home, organization | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Steering between the setting moon and the rising sun

Posted on October 19, 2016 by jyourist

Monthly I travel to Ann Arbor to visit my mother in an assisted living facility. On this last visit, I took her to get her hair done which includes molding her hair into a virtual sculpture by using enormous amounts of hair spray. We waited … Continue reading →

Posted in aging, family, moon, mother, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Nothing else to do but read

Posted on August 5, 2016 by jyourist

Today JB and I went to the library. We haven’t been to the library in many, many years. We read a lot, but somehow have purchased all our reading materials from bookstores or online. When I was at work I would … Continue reading →

Posted in books, bookstore, family, growing up, reading | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Missing spark

Posted on July 5, 2016 by jyourist

We spent the day yesterday in the most traditional celebration of July 4th that I have ever experienced in my whole life. We watched the Evanston parade in front of my son’s coffee and gelato shop on Central Street. The parade … Continue reading →

Posted in family, Holidays | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Ready. Aim. Fire.

Posted on July 2, 2016 by jyourist

In commemoration of my sister’s birthday, which is today, I am reposting a story I wrote a couple years ago of one of my favorite stories of her and her irreverent self.  When we were young, every Memorial Day our … Continue reading →

Posted in cemetery, family, World War II | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

All she wants to do is hold your hand

Posted on February 7, 2016 by jyourist

When Merle died, a man who lived in the same assisted living facility as my mother Pearl, she told me his last words were, “Pearl. Pearl. Pearl.” I asked her how she knew that. Then she said, “I don’t know … Continue reading →

Posted in aging, beauty, family, mother, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Rocky take-off. Rocky landing.

Posted on January 26, 2016 by jyourist

Today is the anniversary of my mother and father’s wedding in 1949. I’m not sure why I thought of it just now. I haven’t thought about it for a long time. My father died 45 years ago. My mother has … Continue reading →

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Memory Lane

Posted on December 28, 2015 by jyourist

Each time I get in to Ann Arbor to visit my mother, I try to do some sort of activity with her and some of the ladies in her wing. In November we made cards using stamps and last week … Continue reading →

Posted in aging, compassion, creativity, family, memory, mother | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment