I am here. I am healthy. I am strong.   The first third of my life started out as a 4.5 lb baby with life threatening congenital problems that in other countries would have resulted in my demise. The second third of my life started out with my world in complete collapse due to a set of events that made me an uneducated, broke, single parent of two children who were five and two. Now I start the third part of my life.  

We have all been captive inside a mechanized telephone maze. Nothing infuriates me more than the frustration of the urgent need to get through to the party I've called, but being put in the holding pen. Invariably, the delay becomes interminable as the loop interrupts the cheesy elevator music to proclaim "your call is important to us please stay on the line". When patience is at end there is great temptation to hang up, but no!  You have gone so far and would have to start over and endure this gauntlet anew. And then, there is a disconnect or dropped call.

Renovations of the bathrooms in our offices were recently completed. In addition to the clean new look,  I noticed the new high powered hand dryer and the new paper towel dispenser which dispensed smaller sheets than I remembered. I began to take notice and observed many more high powered hand dryers in public restrooms.

These three men have eased my pain and I am able to love life more this week because of them. No one is more surprised than me.   Lin Manuel:

So many lives lost. So much senseless killing. So much suffering.

Thank you to my friend Lorraine Brennan for inspiring this blog.

I shared a few blogs ago plans to see Al Kooper at BB Kings.   Concerts generally invigorate and Thursday night proved no exception.  

Yesterday Muhammad Ali was laid to rest and a parade of speakers, famous and not so famous, eulogized this man. From Senator Orin Hatch to Billy Crystal to President Bill Clinton they all had words that were meaningful, funny and sad. It was an amazing service.