Joan Oliver

Although most people got back to ‘normal’ as if they were shot out of a cannon this year, some of us needed a little more time to find our way back to our pre-COVID pandemic activities.

Parents, you can play a big role in how excited your children remain about learning and going back to school.

For caregivers like me, it’s also important to keep the past, the present and the future in balance.

Some people buy T-shirts from the vacation spots to which they travel. My husband and I liked to buy art pieces from local artists. That’s helped to spark happy memories from our years of travel adventures.

Sometimes when I find myself in a troubling predicament at the Oliver homestead, I think to myself, “What would Sue Aikens do?”

Sometimes we have to accept and embrace our loved one’s quirks. That was the case when Joan Oliver’s mother found an unusual way to honor the memory of her beloved cat, Cinders.

Depression doesn’t care if you are a country music superstar or an unknown working person just trying to make it through another day.

If benign neglect is a gardening style, then it aptly describes Joan Oliver’s relationships with plants. Sometimes a plant will surprise her, surviving although there’s no reason on earth that it should.

Laughter is good medicine. So it’s probably not surprising that in dealing with my husband’s Alzheimer’s disease, Tony and I try to find the humor in this very dark situation. Good thing the disease hasn’t taken his sense of humor.

Money Smart Week offers virtual sessions to help people better manage their personal finances. This year there’s a focus on those hardest hit by the pandemic.