Within the last seven months, my beloved mother suffered a stroke and a followup event which left her with some trouble in finding words.  Her vocabulary is still enormous and her cognition is near perfect, but sometimes she can’t find the exact words she wants exactly when she wants them and the results of her intense effort to communicate are often unintentionally poetic and wonderful.  Although her phrases are not always conventional, I find that they strike nearer the heart of truth than most ”normal” speech.

The other day, I was remarking to her that my father, who is also recently home from a short stay in a nursing home, was being accompanied on his first grocery shopping expedition the same day she was.  She struggled for a diplomatic response to this earth-shattering news and came up with: “I guess it’s the old-fashioned get busy.”  Even though I can’t know exactly what she meant to convey with this expression, it immediately became part of my permanent lexicon.

 And, musing on it, I realized that it can be applied to no one more appropriately than John Kerry. I remember how worried I was about him after Election Day 2004 and how amazed and impressed I was when, (more…)

It’s been almost five months since this blog’s first post and I want to thank everyone who has stopped by to leave encouraging and thoughtful comments. Every comment has inspired me to continue to share my personal thoughts on this great statesman and his remarkable wife and family.

I’ve had a lot of ideas related to the theme of this blog in the last months; Senator Kerry has continued to earn my admiration and respect with every action and decision he’s taken. I hope to post some of those personal perceptions in the near future.

Since late October of last year, both of my elderly parents have had health crises. Most of my time and energy have been occupied in travel across the country to help them directly and long-distance caregiving when I’m back home. I’ve seen some of the best and the some of the worst of how our society handles the basic issues of care and compassion for those members of our communities who most need assistance. The work of John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry to improve our world and life for all Americans has given me heart and hope when things seemed darkest.

Having dipped my toes into the blogging pool over at http://www.welovejohnkerry.com/ and worked with Democrafty and DreamingofKerry to create a blog that incorporated both our ideals and our sense of fun, I have decided to swim out a little on my own and dedicate this new blog to my own musings and thoughts about John Kerry and what his example means to me.

This blog will not generally be especially timely or politically relevant; my view is much more personal and philosophical.  I hope I will be able to express here some of the insights I have gained from observing Senator Kerry’s work and history.

John Kerry is not some pasteboard, perfect, two-dimensional hero. He is a human being, one who very much fits Eleanor Roosevelt’s definition of “a mature person”, which is given prominent place at the head of the blog.

He often acts heroically, but that is not what makes him my hero. What makes him my hero is the way he lives his life.  In every stage of his life, he has looked at his (more…)