We each have father stories. For some reason, the word FATHER was mentioned multiple times on the American Idol show this season. Many of the contestants had lost their fathers, and the song “Monsters,” written by James Blunt, was sung a few times, bringing strong emotions. Ever since the show ended, I find myself playing …
What shoes did you wear as a child? This past week I’ve been  reaching into my own memory bank for the shoes I used to wear. Maybe they weren’t that important to me because only a few stand out. There was a pair of white Mary Janes I wore for my First Communion. My saddle …
Last Sunday, our minister shared a story about a “sign†someone received that was personal and meaningful to them. It was a sign on a license plate, that gave hope. Her message reminded me of a sign we received three years ago, hours before my mother-in-law, Millie transitioned into the next world. It’s a story …
It’s me Chili Millie, here to spill the tea on Jan! As you might know, I’m literally a work of art (and some may say “a piece of work”). But seriously, I was created as a result of words and ideas, and so were you, more or less. This gives new meaning to the phrase …
When I lived in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, I took part in a program called “Leadership for Five Seasons.” It was one of those year long programs where young leaders could learn about the community with the intention of discovering the volunteer opportunities they’d love. At graduation, we were all given a tag line, and since …
Can Women Talk About Shoes and Still be Taken Seriously? Read More »
Chili Millie here. Let’s talk about the steps of your beautiful life story. I’m famous for calling youth: “the season of we don’t know what we don’t know.” We weren’t aware of the hop-scotch, step-by-step, connect the dots game that brings us from here to where we want to be. I’ve been thinking about this …
As a child of the 60s, decked-out in my bell-bottoms, peace-symbol shirt and dangling love-beads, I dreamed about being creatively me. In my mind, creativity and freedom held hands and made a fist at the establishment—anyone over 40.  Looking at 40 from the other side, I realize that I didn’t know what I didn’t …
Writing is personal and tender and scary, and if you’re writing about your own life, you can multiply the fear by 10. There are a million stories you can choose to write, yet I’d recommend not skipping the ones about the struggles in your life. I call them Shark Stories or Mis-Adventures. So why would you …
I’m really looking forward to presenting my most popular class of 2019 called Writing the Stories of Your Life. I had planned to offer this Story Workshop in the Spring of 2020, but then Covid hit. (sound familiar?) Luckily, our 2021 lets-make-lemonaide-out-of-lemons attitude presented a silver lining. So in March, you can experience the benefits of …
