Journal On! Weekend Coffee Share

Good morning, Everyone. It is the first Sunday of the spring equinox and Palm Sunday. Sending you energies for peace during this season of renewal. I poured my coffee. Get your favorite morning brew. Let me catch you up.  

If we were having coffee together, I would say that this week feels the pull of spring even though the temperatures remain raw. My husband, Matt, finished his indoor boat projects and is now tackling the yard. We cleared and trimmed the hydrangeas (there are a lot) and I am feeding them coffee grinds to promote a blue-er bloom. 

If we were having coffee together, I would tell you that the Women in Publishing Summit was fantastic. This was my fourth round attending the summit. I learned a few new things, attended interesting sessions, and, most importantly, met women on similar journeys. Although the summit is a virtual event, there were live Q&As after each session, and the coffee and wine hours felt intimate and comfortable. Alexa Bigwarfe and her incredible staff coordinated, shared, and put out the behind-the-scene fires to pull off this amazing event. I will replay the videos and digesting the information for weeks. 

If we were having coffee together, I would say that I have been busy packing, planning the packing, and stressing over the packing. Matt and I are finally taking that riverboat trip up the Rhine River through Germany and into Amsterdam. Soon, I will not have to worry about what I can’t fit, forgot, or the unnecessary stuff I brought. We leave in a few days! Very excited to tour old cities, castles and cathedrals, eat regional foods, and enjoy the company. 

If we were having coffee together, I would announce that I am back with Grand Prompts to Ask Your Grands. This time I have a real, page turning, write-in-your-very-own-journal book! The title is Journal On! Grand Prompts to Ask Your Grands; a sampling of memories and reminiscences and will be available through Amazon’s KDP soon. I am hoping a real journal will appeal to kids of all ages. If all goes well, I plan on other thematic journal topics.

Collecting stories is my passion. I listen, watch, ask questions, and pay attention to the storytellers’ voices. I want to know how the settings smelled, what were the choices, and who was in the story—what they wore, carried, and cared about? 

One question is rarely enough to get a good story. I gain perspective by listening and expanding questions. Each story I hear reveals a part of the storyteller’s journey. Their struggles, obstacles, and transgressions are just as powerful as their muted triumphs. For instance, a quiet grandma in-law who rarely contributed to conversations, surprised everyone at the table with her response to the question, “What was your first paying job?” Everyone else had typical answers—babysitting, delivering goods or newspapers, sewing garment piece work. The grandma replied she was a dress model for a big department store in New York City! With further questions, she happily told of her joy in reading fashion magazines with her mother, the modeling classes, how she learned about makeup, hairstyling, walking in high heels, and going to lunch with her friends from the store. Wow! This was a revelation I may never have known if I did not ask. It gave me a new way of seeing this quiet lady who spent her long adult life as a humble housewife and mother.  

I compiled the questions and prompts I posed to my elders. From the conversations, I journal the events the way I understood it. The stories are recorded. 

The Journal On! Grand Prompts to Ask Your Grands gives kids of all ages to ask the questions, retell the tale, and write the story as they heard and understood it. I believe this a great exercise for everyone—school-aged students, young adults, and seasoned grown ups who want to start a conversation around the dinner table. Sharing a lived event enhances relationships, promotes empathy, and creates meaningful stories.  

Stay tuned for the publication of Journal On! Grand Prompts to Ask Your Grands; a sampling of memories and reminiscences. 

Great BIG thanks goes out to Natalie the Explorer who keeps the Weekend Coffee Share percolating.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy. Like. Share.