Made it through Christmas of 2010 Whew!

So, it has been a month since my last post. This blogging thing takes up more time than I had thought ahead of time. Christmas was great except that neither of my daughters was home for it. This is the first Christmas without them since they were born. Very weird!
My grandson was here so that was something! What a great young man he is becoming. Still so sensitive and sweet. His hair is wild and bushy but so him. I guess his dad didn't much care for it but hey, it's hair for goodness' sake! So, I have been receiving lots of hugs from him and trying to store some up for when he heads back to Maui next weekend. Christmas is always a time of reflection for me. Growing up without much in the way of happy holiday memories always makes me appreciate what I have now. We have a new daughter named Miranda who is just a delight. Malia is hanging on by a thread but it is really time for her to get on with her life and it is now starting to feel like we are enabling her to skate. Time for reality to strike I am afraid. We spent an evening with all of my brothers, most of their offspring, my sister Penny and her family and my sister Rita and her husband. That was a kick. Fifty people crammed into my house with good food, good drink and lots of chatter. Christmas Eve we spent with my sister Rita and her family including her 98 year-old mom Sparky. Sparky had just been given a port a cath the day before as her marrow has now shut down and is no longer manufacturing blood cells. But, by golly, Sparky is hanging in there. She is amazing! We call her Sparky because she was struck by lightning twice (one week a part) when we were about eight. She has the goodness and sweetness of a small child. Christmas morning we had some friends over for brunch...Doreen is from my years at KOMO...Lola is my friend whom I met through the Emerald City Jewels a now defunct women's group...she and I bonded during the time I helped her pack up our friend Phyllis Mayo's condo after her death a year ago. Then, my little friend Henry who died a month ago left behind a grieving mama, Lihua. I was so glad that she agreed to join us. It was nice to have them all here. Food again was fabulous! Then, we had dinner with Steve's parents and they invited a lovely German couple Michael and Carolina Berger whom we have shared holiday meals with in the past. It was a great time and we appreciate our many blessings. I hope you created great memories with your loved ones as well.

Giving Thanks!

It is the night before Thanksgiving and I have been thinking about my many blessings... sending e-cards to friends and family members. And anxiously awaiting my grandson's trip to the NW in a few weeks. I really miss the guy. Any minute now he is going to be too cool or too big or too old to want to spend anytime with his puna. That will make me very sad. That brings me to wondering how my in-laws must feel about my daughter Keili turning 22 next week! I think more scary for all of us is the fact that she will graduating from college in May. Wow! then it will really be time for us to let go. The girl is always five steps ahead in planning. I know that she will go far and I mean that both figuratively and literally. She will either end up in Australia - again! or it could be some exotic locale like France, Italy or Spain but rest assured it will be far from home. She claims that she will never live where it is cold again so who knows what the future will bring for her? The universe brought Brie to Maui and look what happened there! Well, my life is in a holding pattern right now but Steve and I plan to be near Brie and Keawe hopefully sooner rather than later but with this economy it really depends on when we can get our house and property sold. Need a buyer who is a builder and wants these two parcels with fabulous views of the city, the sound, the Cascades from Baker to Rainier. If you know of anyone, send em my way!

Let's live with love and gratitude! I am grateful for my loving husband... My beautiful daughters...my wonderful handsome grandson... Steve's parents who are awesome btw...so are his relatives and I am also grateful for my brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews...god children...great friends and the loving memories of my son, parents, grandpa, Annie, Alycia, Phyllis, and so many more. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. God bless!

(I am up to 14,000 hits on my web site--woohoo!)

My thoughts on Social Media--my website has 13,275 posts!

Well, that little deal with my photo being put up on MSN.com a few weeks ago really was a godsend because since then I have had over three thousand more hits on my website. Pretty cooh, eh? I did a booksigning for OVER THE RAINBOW BRIDGE at the Bellevue Athletic Club on Saturday. It was a Holiday Bazaar...I was with my friend Linnea Sallberg who was educating people about XOCAI Healthy Chocolate and I ran into several former colleagues from KOMO-TV. That was fun! James Owen and Lynn Espinoza both looked great. My friend Linda Morris was there too. They commented about seeing me on MSN.com too! Social media is quite amazing isn't it? I need to figure that out mo bettah. Speaking of social media, this morning I was trying to add a few people from my email list to my Facebook and all of a sudden it said that I had sent out 877 invitations!!! So to all of my friends...I apologize for bombarding you...and I do realize that many of you are already hooked up with me on FB. Sorry for being such a dimwit with Facebook!

Life is Fleeting and Sharing Grief Helps

I went to Spokane recently to help with a weekend grief retreat for parents like me. It was comprised of people whose children died from cancer after suffering through chemotherapy, radiation, surgeries, etc. I call it the Crappy Club. We all felt like crap. It is amazing how much it helps to sit around with people who understand all too well how it feels when the bottom of your world drops out and you free fall into a hellish pit of pain that lasts far longer than you ever imagined possible. We shared a lot of laughter too so I don't want you think it was all horrible. I met some fantastic new people and got reacquainted with several from a previous retreat too. As the facilitator it is my job to keep things moving and give people a jumpstart on looking within and learning how to cope with their sadness. The activities are varied as different mediums touch people in a variety of ways. Most of the participants are shocked by what gets to his or her core and brings the tears. It is always fascinating to be with a group of strong capable survivors such as the parents who attended. Of course, I felt honored that they trusted me with their memories and stories. I am always blown away at the workshops. I am always awed by the amount of growth made in such a short amount of time. I see and feel the incredible heartfelt love and support the participants have for each other--- it's inspiring... I also love to hear about the children. Sometimes it is hard to listen to someone whose pain is so raw and so familiar to my own but I also know how much sharing will benefit them in the long run. So, if you are in the throes of grief---don't try to work through it alone. Know that going for help with your grief doesn't make you weak, mentally ill or damaged...it just means you are taking care of yourself after going through a terrible loss.

Love this review!!!

It appears I only know a tiny bit of Shirley Enebrad....when there’s at least two or three lifetimes worth of this woman! I’m truly blown away...on many levels. It’s taken me two days to put my thoughts and feelings together, before I could respond to you, the book, the journey.
First of all....I read it in two days. Not an easy task for me (busy schedule; distractions; slow reader!). I’ve only done this one other time, when Shawn H gave me a book to read “The Things I Want Most”....that was when Shawn sucked me into her life!
I’ve already made a mental list of who is getting this book for Christmas. My girlfriend whose sister committed suicide on Father’s Day 1987, for one. I always told her I thought Collette’s depression was a horrible brain/mental cancer that she couldn’t live with any longer. So she did her own version of mercy killing. A great explanation of what she was dealing with in the here and now, but until Cory told me where people go when they commit suicide I always anguished with what religions have told me. Thank you Cory!!! I’m sure it will bring some comfort to my friend Michelle, unless she’s already there.
OMGosh....I laughed out loud so many times. And anguished....and cried....and smiled. You are like the Army, the Navy and the Marines all in one! And Cory....what a wonder. I couldn’t wait to see what he was going to say or do next! And...you have to tell me...what airline am I forever boycotting!?!?!?!
You have opened my eyes and mind and heart to so much. And all of it, inspirational. I have never really feared death, but reading the book....I actually found myself looking forward to it!
Then the technical side of book. The writing, the flow...I was fascinated by the storytelling process. How did you do it? How long did it take? I kept thinking, “Shirley wrote this book...how did she sequence everything so perfectly? Was that as funny to everyone that read that part? Shirley wrote this book!”
Well, that was just a few things I was able to process in the past two days. I can’t thank you enough for sharing it, and Cory with me. I will forever treasure it (and probably read it again – something I’ve rarely done too – but I already find myself drawn back to it). More importantly I suppose, and I promise...I will pay it forward. Like I said, I have several people in mind that will appreciate this wonderful, inspirational story.
You are an amazing woman, Shirley! What a gift you are and have.
Be well,
Nicole M

MSN is my favorite this week

Well, I don't know if you saw it or not but yours truly was one of the rotating faces on MSN.com on Sunday morniing. What a kick! Anyway, I was featured in a Careerbuilders article about people falling into new careers. Well, MSN decided to run it too but they asked for a photograph and I wasn't aware that I was the only one in the article that would have my picture with it. Pretty cool, eh? Well, the really cool part is that so far I received nearly a thousand hits on my website as a result. Now if they would all buy my book that would be even better! I also, need those who have read it and liked it...(only the ones who liked it mind you)to go to Amazon.com and write a five-star review of OVER THE RAINBOW BRIDGE. My life just keeps getting better and better. Thanks for keeping up with me.

I am chatting with Frankie Picasso today at 5pm PST/8pm EST. It should be interesting. Her show is called MISSION UNSTOPPABLE. Following is instructions on how to listen to her shows...or to call in LIVE. And also, if you miss my interview, how you can listen to the archived recording of the show.

I would love to have you join our show every week and here is how you can do it. You can either listen in by going to www.blogtalkradio.com/missionunstoppable or you can CALL In LIVE at (646) 595-3741 , press 1. If you click on the show link you can then also join our chat room and interact with other listeners.

Don't have time to join us on Tuesday's? No problem... You can always listen to our archived recordings of the program by clicking on this link Mission Unstoppable. and using the convenient audio player, or download the .mp3 file and play it at leisure from Itunes on your phone or home computer!