family - Surviving and Thriving

The Molly Pitcher workout.

December 21, 2012December 20, 2012 by Donna Freedman

When I was in elementary school we heard the story of a brave Revolutionary War-era woman who carried water to the troops during the Battle of Monmouth. “Molly, Molly, bring us your pitcher,” the men would call on that hot July day. That’s how she became known as “Molly Pitcher,” we were told.

Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley did follow her husband, a barber who enlisted in the Revolutionary Army, and apparently helped him load cannons. But “Molly Pitcher” seems to have been just a generic nickname for women who carried water to the colonial troops.

The truth is so limiting. I like the legend better, especially after what happened to me yesterday.

Why I have life insurance.

May 20, 2021August 21, 2012 by Donna Freedman

(This post is part of the “Life Insurance Movement,” created by Jeff Rose of Good Financial Cents. Just as with his “Roth IRA Movement,” more than 100 PF bloggers committed to write about a single issue on the same day to raise awareness.)

About six years ago I was a midlife college student and in debt after a divorce that had dragged on for two years. During that time I’d been helping my daughter as much as I could as she waited for her disability claim to be approved. (That took two years as well.)

After the divorce I figured to finish my degree on $12,084 per year – a mix of short-term alimony and leftovers from scholarships and grants. I was also determined to keep helping my daughter, since her disability payment covered rent and utilities but not much else.

One evening I had the radio on while I studied. An insurance commercial came on, one that I’d heard before. This time, it clicked: What would happen to Abby if I got hit by a bus tomorrow? I have no savings to leave her.

A matter of timing.

April 24, 2015July 22, 2012 by Donna Freedman

The kitchen timer Mom gave me is working once more. It had met a clumsy yet oddly appropriate end about two years ago, when I knocked it off the counter and into the bucket of bleach water I was using to mop the floor.

I cried out in dismay, and later cried actual tears. Yes, it was just a timer. But it meant something to me. It was a gift from my mother, during a time when I couldn’t talk about what was going on in my life – but she knew what she saw, and she must have guessed that what she couldn’t see was much worse.

On the road to Homer.

May 14, 2013May 22, 2012 by Donna Freedman

Sorry to have maintained radio silence for so long. I’ve had to take some time to grieve because my daughter had a second miscarriage. She found out she was pregnant while I was visiting last month, and would have been due close to Christmas.

That was May 11 – their fourth wedding anniversary and two days before Mother’s Day.

How much is the senior prom worth?

January 28, 2014April 26, 2012 by Donna Freedman

Would you spend 6% (or more) of your gross annual income to send your teen to the prom? A survey by Visa Inc. indicated that families earning less than $20,000 per year planned to shell out $1,200 for the annual school dance.

I don’t know what’s scarier: The fact that parents are willing to do this or the fact that kids think it’s necessary.

No grandma this time.

January 12, 2012 by Donna Freedman

My daughter lost the baby. If I’m brokenhearted, imagine how bad Abby and Tim feel.

A note to Santa.

October 13, 2014December 26, 2011 by Donna Freedman

My great-nephew is 10 years old. I expect this is his last year of believing in Father Christmas. No doubt he’ll return to school on Jan. 3 saying, “Santa Claus brought me a Kinect and two of the ‘Heroes of Olympus” books!’ and some cynical fifth-grader will reply, “Dude, your mom bought those gifts.”

This year, though, he still believes. Witness the note he left on the kitchen table.

Downloadable treats from All You magazine.

December 21, 2011 by Donna Freedman

The winner of the two subscriptions to All You magazine has been chosen, so if you didn’t hear from me it wasn’t you.

The response to the giveaway was so enthusiastic that I plan to do it again at some point — and in the meantime, the magazine is providing a little holiday consolation prize.

Gran? Grandma? Grandiose? Grandiloquent? Which do you think best describes me?

December 19, 2011 by Donna Freedman

Great news on the home front: My daughter and her husband are expecting a baby in August.

Some women freak out when they’re told they are soon to be grandmas. They think it means they’re old, or something.

Two thoughts about that:

In praise of the bandana.

September 15, 2011 by Donna Freedman

Farm chore of the week: spreading fertilizer around 1,600 young Christmas trees. Dad and I did some today and some yesterday. More await us on Friday. Yay.

The late-summer sun felt plenty warm to me, and the humidity had it beat by a couple of percentage points. My bandana got quite a workout; not only did I wipe my face fairly often, I used the blue hanky to mark my spot in a row. When I walked back from the fertilizer cart, I always knew which was the last tree I’d surrounded with 14-7-14 granules.

That bandana cost me a buck several years ago, and has been in my backpack ever since. Who carries a pocket handkerchief any more? I do, and you should, too. It’s incredibly useful for a number of tasks.