Strangers Build Community Via Co-Housing

by Charlotte Cox BBC    When Nikki Little and John Porter retired, they considered buying a bungalow for just the two of them.    Instead, they invested in a one million-pound  ($1.33 million US) house tucked away on Devon’s rugged and remote Hartland Peninsula – and looked for a community of like-minded people to join …

Mom Gave Me Birth, Gave Back My Birthday

by Kevin Burton    Today we talk birthdays on what would have been my mother’s 92nd. She died May 4, leaving an unfillable hole in my heart and life.    She is gone from this life but far, far from forgotten. There were many special days while mom was with us. Birthdays were among the …

Missing My Mom And Defining “Carry On”

by Kevin Burton “And when one of us is gone, and one of us is left to carry on, then remembering will have to do..” “You and Me Against The World” Helen Reddy    The first song I played after learning of my mother’s death on May 4, was “First Morning In Heaven,” by The …

Words To Live By, Words To Die By, Words

by Kevin Burton    I bury my mother today. Can you imagine such a thing?    Life is a coin flip, with love on one side and pain on the other. Pain, in some measure, is the residue of love.    Live. Love. Toss the coin. Do it.    “There’s a sad day coming, and …

My Friend, “Prepaid” Is The Only Way To Go

by Kevin Burton    I called the cemetery where my mother will be buried next week and told the clerk that the time had come.    The clerk was actually en route to work. She said she would look up our family’s records once she got there, and call me back.    “Everything is paid …

Make Time For Mom, You’ll Be Glad You Did

by Kevin Burton    One day my mother received a letter. The people who owned the house she was renting were going to sell it, and she had 30 days to get out.    It was ridiculous to expect her to move that quickly, and my brother successfully negotiated an additional six weeks. But we …

Bye For Now, Evelyn Marie, Bye For Now

by Kevin Burton    Mom started it. I followed suit right away. We both understood though we never discussed it.    Somewhere, maybe six or seven years ago, we began ending a phone conversation or one of my visits to her at assisted living or in the nursing home with “bye for now!”    We’ll …

Baby On Board! Woman Gives Birth On Flight

by Kevin Burton    Chances are you’ve heard this story by now, of a baby being born mid-air on a Portland, Oregon-bound flight April 24.    Page 7 is hardly a breaking news outlet, so I’m guessing you’ve read about it somewhere.    But here’s my question: Did Delta Airlines try to charge the mother …

Floating An Idea For Next Year’s Anniversary

by Kevin Burton    From out of the blue, (and from the Associated Press) I get a super idea for a fun adventure. And my wife is shooting it down.    But wait.  I say this is a developing story. We have almost a whole year to talk things over.    Stay tuned dear readers, …

Our Getaway In Beautiful Downtown Newton

by Kevin Burton    “There are no boring towns, just boring people,” said my first editor. Not all his nuggets were golden. That one was, and is.    My wife Jeannette and I are not boring people Thus we were in no danger of being bored, though we made the curious choice of Newton, Kansas …