Writings by Diane

I heard the Gilbert O’Sullivan’s song Alone Again Naturally many times growing up. The structure of the song is deceivingly interesting. The song lures you with the singer’s unusual voice; its simple melody has a sing-song quality that makes it easy to hum after hearing it for the first time. Though I’m familiar with the song, it is definitely not one of my personal favorites. It’s a song that I consider to be very depressing, though every time I heard it was at the tail end of the song.   I wondered why its focus was on his parents dying.     A few years later, I heard this song again and it was at the very beginning. At this time, I was pregnant with my son and my husband was driving us to a lunch meeting with another couple. I decided to listen to this song all the way through, and turned up the volume. This was a big mistake when I clearly heard the first refrain. It involves the singer being rejected by his intended bride at their wedding and his matter of fact que...

When my son was 3 years old, he was learning his ABC’s.   To keep these lessons from getting boring, (honestly, how many times can you say A is for apple without stifling a yawn?)I used real life examples in my teachings. Any time I found printed words, I would point out the letters to him and he would identify them.   I wanted to let my son know that letters are everywhere, not just confined to his picture books. One day, during his bath time, I found another opportunity for a letter lesson. On our bathtub, the faucets were installed in the wall and were marked H and C.   I pointed to the H and asked him what letter that was.   He replied, “H”, as he splashed the water about him. With a broad smile, I said, “Good! H stands for hot.   Now, what is this letter?”   I pointed to the faucet on the right.   Today, however, the faucet was turned so the C looked different.   He looked at it intently, beads of water trickling down his face. He answere...

If you visit my website, you can now read the first chapter of my book for free! Please feel free to click on its link below: website All I ask is please leave me a comment. Even to just say "hello" so I know that some people are reading it! Thanks everyone, and I'll talk with you later!! Diane

Do you judge a book by its cover? In other words, do you make up your mind about a person by their appearance? I must admit, I used to think this way. In one of my previous employments, when we interviewed someone for temporary office work, they were immediately categorized as front or back office, depending solely on how they were dressed and presented themselves. I didn’t give this harsh method of classification a second thought until something happened to me a few years ago. I was at Meadows Mall in Las Vegas with my husband Chris and our son. Derek was a baby at the time and we took turns pushing his stroller through the many walkways. I enjoyed the window shopping, Chris not so much and Derek was amusing himself by kicking his legs about. It was in the morning and the mall wasn’t too crowded.   Some spots of the mall were downright deserted.     As we were walking down a long hallway, we caught sight of a guy following us. His jeans were torn, chains were dangling fr...