In emergency management, after the response to a major disaster or catastrophic event is concluded, attention is fully focused on recovery. There is a fairly widely held notion amongst the general public that recovery means that folks will get back to "normal". But there is no "normal" after experiencing such an event; instead, there is a [...]
More than a two day tour….
I have concluded from our brief Washington, DC trip that a byproduct of a two-day DC adventure is a recognition that you need to come back when you have more time. This is not a place that can be seen fully in a few days or really a week, this is a place that requires [...]
Trudging is the least we can do.
Yesterday morning we walked from our hotel to Arlington National Cemetery. I had an awful lot of bounce in my step as we started toward the cemetery. But as we started to see the graves from just outside the cemetery my steps got heavier and heavier. By the time we made our way to the [...]
Bear witness.
Many years ago I watched the movie Sophie's Choice and I have never forgotten the painful choice Sophie had to make and how it haunted her. The thought of ever being placed in a position like Sophie to choose the life of one child over another is horrifying to me. And yet, such things happened [...]
Reflect…
Today in our DC travels we visited, amongst other things, three very important memorials - the World War II Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, and the Vietnam Veteran Memorial. Each of these memorials are powerful in their own right. They carry a weighty responsibility - they stand to help us honor and remember those [...]
The gifts we give our children…
I have been thinking a lot lately about the gifts we give our children. Not gifts like game consoles, bikes, and the occasional ugly sweater, but those gifts that come as a function or byproduct of parenting and role modeling. Of course, sometimes they aren't always gifts...sometimes they are handicaps. But the point is, we give [...]
Jersey fierce…
The women in Mike's family - his mother Barbara and his sister Michele - are strong women with their own minds and opinions. They are not to be trifled with. I must say, I feel like I belong in this family. There is no pussyfooting around, no tongues held, and no sidestepping - Barbara and Michele are [...]
THE NEW FORTY 