General

Intentional Living-Time to Think, Design and Live

Posted: 11 years ago | By: Christine Somers | In: General | Read Time: 1 minute, 44 seconds
I would love to tell you that I have always lived an intentional life but that is not true. As a matter of fact, I would say for many years it was just the opposite. My first real job was with a local TV station in Jacksonville, Florida. How did I end up running camera and building sets? My best friend was a passionate communication’s major in college who wanted more than anyth...
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General

Apples/ Photos

Posted: 11 years ago | By: Christine Somers | In: General | Read Time: 1 minute, 48 seconds
 As I mentioned last Friday, I have become the family historian who is responsible for sorting and organizing my parent’s family photos. My father was extremely organized and had meticulously labeled thousands of photos. My mother on the other hand was the yin to his yang and just tossed photos into the drawers of her nightstand along with receipts and other bits of paper.I decided to tackle the contents of her nightstand first. I discovered that most people (and that inclu...
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Life Management

Change is coming to Footsteps

Posted: 11 years ago | By: Christine Somers | In: Life Management | Read Time: 1 minute, 36 seconds
Whenever people ask me where I am from, I answer, “born in Greensboro, North Carolina and raised in Jacksonville, Florida.” Each summer my father’s family enthusiastically celebrated our return to North Carolina for our annual two-week family vacation and they excitedly questioned us about our life in Florida. They were convinced that we lived in paradise. And re...
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Family & Relationships

There is a Season

Posted: 11 years ago | By: Christine Somers | In: Family & Relationships | Read Time: 2 minutes, 59 seconds
After three months of bouncing back and forth between hospitals and rehab centers, the decision has been made to call in hospice and allow mom to go home. She has been stroking continuously during the previous 12 weeks, losing a piece of herself each time. The only pain she has experienced during this period was from the daily blood tests, MRI’s with contrast...
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Family & Relationships

Retirement: How Much Money Do You Need?

Posted: 11 years ago | By: Christine Somers | In: Family & Relationships | Read Time: 5 minutes, 50 seconds
How much money do you really need to retire? We see commercials on TV that bandy around figures like 1.2 or 1.5 million dollars. Is that reality or is that what the major financial houses need, to make your investment valuable to them? Over the next few weeks, Footsteps will take a look at what it takes to retire and you decide whether “retirement” is in yo...
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Family & Relationships

When to Call Hospice

Posted: 12 years ago | By: Christine Somers | In: Family & Relationships | Read Time: 4 minutes, 49 seconds
Ours is not the only family to find it difficult to navigate the end of life journey of a family member.  A friend of mine tells the story of her own family’s response to her grandmother dying. Her 93 year-old grandmother was taken to the hospital because her body appeared to be shutting down. After a thorough examination, it was discovered that she had a blockage in her i...
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Life Management

Seven Things To Do Before A Medical Emergency

Posted: 12 years ago | By: Christine Somers | In: Life Management | Read Time: 3 minutes, 26 seconds
Get your paperwork done.  Putting off thinking through and writing down your wishes now may lead to undue stress and hardship on your family and friends later. It may also mean that your thoughts and beliefs will not be honored. A Living Will and Health Care Proxy are two basic documents that most hospitals ask for on admission.  These for...
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Spirituality

Always Loved, Never Forgotten

Posted: 12 years ago | By: Christine Somers | In: Spirituality | Read Time: 3 minutes, 48 seconds
Valentine's Day is fast approaching. I remember going into a store in early January and feeling overwhelmed by the mirage of pink and red hearts, proclaiming Valentine's Day would soon be here. Christmas decorations were still up in many of my neighbor’s homes. But, not in mine. Not this year. Maybe next year? I can't really think that far ahead. When I try to look ahead, it makes my head hurt. It is easier to just not think about it. Not think about it? How can I not think about i...
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Family & Relationships

This Is Life

Posted: 12 years ago | By: Christine Somers | In: Family & Relationships | Read Time: 3 minutes, 25 seconds
There is a doorman in our building in the City that had been aloof and cool towards me since we moved into our apartment four years ago. He was not unkind just distant. After he learned of my mom’s illness he came to me and earnestly shared with me his affection for his mom and family and his prayer that my mom would be okay. After one of Mom’s medical emergencies, I was leaving to go to Florida; he stopped me and spoke of the loss he felt when his own mother’s health was failing.&...
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General

Bringing the ‘Happy’ in Happy New Year!

Posted: 12 years ago | By: Christine Somers | In: General | Read Time: 4 minutes, 24 seconds
I recently taught a workshop on the topic of getting organized for the New Year at my local public library.  It is an exercise I do every year, mostly because I’m asked, but also because it is an opportunity for me to focus on my own ‘stuff’’ and confront the challenges that prevented me from doing things I wanted to do the previous year. The small roo...
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