Did you have a nice Valentine’s Day? If you did, great! If not, no worries. You apparently weren’t alone. According to the National Retail Federation, only 51% of people even celebrated the day. I don’t understand this. Relationships – whether they are with family, friends, or that “special someone” – are sacrosanct in my book and always worth celebrating. Yet they are so often taken for granted and sometimes even neglected when the busyness of everyday life takes center stage. Nowhere does this happen most than when you are caregiving an elderly loved one, especially one with a challenging personality. Everything else seems to fall by the wayside, including relationships. It is so important

I enjoy writing. I like to think I am good at writing—at least people tell me that I am. Way back when I actually earned a degree in writing (Journalism). So it’s not surprising that those around me assume that I journal on a regular basis. Confession: I HAVE NEVER JOURNALED IN MY LIFE! OK, correction #1: Around age 8 I had one of those leather-bound diaries with the little key in which I briefly wrote about the exciting goings-on in my childhood. Correction #2: I never journaled…until I turned to it, out of frustration and desperation related to issues surrounding my elderly mother. I now know that at the time I started writing (2011!!) I was beginning to see the aging challenges that would

I am about escapism whenever possible. The last thing I want to do in those moments when I’m not preoccupied with some aspect of my mom’s at-home care is to read the latest Alzheimer research study or listen to another pitch on why I should buy long-term health care insurance. When it’s time to zone out, give me my Candy Crush game and access to Facebook, and I’m usually a pretty happy camper. That’s exactly what I was doing the other night -- happily scrolling through my Facebook feed -- when my restful mood was broken by one of those sometimes interesting but usually annoying “Sponsored” posts. I usually breeze through them, but this time I stopped. I couldn’t help myself. The headline was

I love Terry Bradshaw. What football fan doesn’t! Besides being an NFL legend, Bradshaw is a larger than life presence. Just watch him on Fox NFL Sunday. Fun, flamboyant…kinda crazy! Not a football fan? You’ve probably still seen Bradshaw, on TV, advertising everything from charge cards to diet programs to insurance. Trust me, every one of his commercials is high-energy and unconventional. No wonder he’s such a hot commodity! So it may not be as crazy as it seems to see Bradshaw in his latest commercial: a walk-in bathtub. True to form, there’s Bradshaw, lounging in a bubble bath, wearing a pastel shower cap, holding a football, and touting the benefits of this walk-in tub (with free shower