It came as a huge shock to me when we first learned that my husband, Mike, had cancer. Mike was far less shocked. With a knot growing just under his jawline for over three months, he’d known something was wrong. I never noticed the change because since moving to Maine, Mike had taken to growing […]

In an unsolicited bit of hilarious advice in “The Graduate,” Dustin Hoffman’s character is pulled aside at a party. “I want to say one word to you. Plastics. There’s a great future in plastics. Think about it.” The best advice I’ve gotten is complicated. Both the advice, and the adviser. When I was little I […]

Of all the advice I’ve received through the years, the one bit of advice that held up to the test of time was “never sell the house in Maine.” I first heard this in a story about my grandmother Annie Doe Stenholm, who was literally born in the front living room of the circa 1823 […]

Keep your eye on the ball. Don’t quit your day job. Eat dessert first (a personal favorite). You can’t take it with you. Never bite off more than you can chew. The best things happen when you stop waiting for them to happen. Over the course of 25 years, I’ve heard plenty of advice. My […]

“Go! Try it! You can always come home.” I can’t count how many times my mother said that to me. For years, she wanted me to become an airline attendant or the next Julie on “The Love Boat.” She wanted me footloose – meeting people, eating great food and staying excited and interested. When I […]