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So far Bitter to Better has created 137 entries.

The Small Joys My Daughter Will Miss in Prison

Title illustration: Sunshine by Joy and Gladness by DeviantArt by Yesterdays-Paper – CC BY 3.0 DEED

In a little over a month, my daughter will be sentenced to prison. It will be for years, not months. I am unable to fathom what this will be like. She will miss so much of what life should […]

By |March 18th, 2024|Viewpoint|Comments Off on The Small Joys My Daughter Will Miss in Prison

Oldest Daughter Arrested, Emotions in Turmoil

Title Image attribution: Wikimedia Commons “Noun emotion 1325508” by Arafat Uddin Licensed under CC BY 4.0
When I flew back with my four-month-old, adopted daughter, from her home country to my home, a prison scenario was not in my head as her future. I am furious; or maybe I am depressed mixed with grief. At […]

By |February 25th, 2024|Current Events|Comments Off on Oldest Daughter Arrested, Emotions in Turmoil

Tribute – 108 Year-Old Grandmother

Header image attribution here.

My husband’s 108-year-old grandmother passed away on Monday, Jan 29th. Today is Friday, Feb 2nd, only four days later. Except for a few hours Monday afternoon when my husband and I went across town to pick up her personal effects from the care facility, I have continued showing up each day […]

By |February 2nd, 2024|Current Events|Comments Off on Tribute – 108 Year-Old Grandmother

Back into the Nightmare with My Oldest Daughter

Was it only in March that I wrote the “Jail to Job to Joy” blog? That was just ten weeks ago. After six years of what I thought was upright living by my oldest daughter, I became convinced that I needed to relax my guard and celebrate her. I thought I could finally look […]

By |June 4th, 2023|Current Events|Comments Off on Back into the Nightmare with My Oldest Daughter

Why Not Now?

I have a soft spot in my heart for English cottages with country gardens. No matter that I live in a different country. In my mind’s eye, I see myself as retired in the “cutest cottage ever”, pottering around in a verdant garden filled with a riotous display of colorful flowering plants, somehow growing […]

By |April 16th, 2023|Viewpoint|Comments Off on Why Not Now?

Easter Weekend: New Beginnings

All across the country this weekend, adorable toddlers dressed (usually by their mothers) in pastel shades of purples, blues and pinks are running around grassy areas holding Easter baskets, gleefully finding plastic eggs filled with jellybeans and brightly colored, foil wrapped chocolates.

I remember those days with my own kids, like it was yesterday. I […]

By |April 8th, 2023|Viewpoint|Comments Off on Easter Weekend: New Beginnings

Oldest Daughter: Jail to Job to Joy

Please forgive the cheesy alliteration in the title. I have a good reason.

My oldest daughter, age 28, has a job as a district manager for a food franchise. She keeps an eye on individual stores, orders food, hires staff, fires staff when needed and keeps the locations running at peak efficiency. In fact, she […]

By |March 11th, 2023|Current Events|Comments Off on Oldest Daughter: Jail to Job to Joy

Taking the Next Step, in Memory of a Friend

Well, life has moved on in these last couple of weeks. After finding out we owe a large amount of tax from the sale of our business, the shock has somewhat worn off. Retrospect is always so much clearer. My brother-in-law is a CPA and specializes in the sale of businesses. My other brother-in-law […]

By |February 18th, 2023|Current Events|Comments Off on Taking the Next Step, in Memory of a Friend

I Would Rather Be Angry Than Afraid

In my outward appearance and behavior at work, I believe I look even tempered, though my coworkers would likely say that I am somewhat quiet. They would be correct; I come to focus on my work and every minute spent talking is a minute wasted that could have been getting something done. I talk […]

By |February 4th, 2023|Uncategorized|Comments Off on I Would Rather Be Angry Than Afraid

Estranged Daughter: Balancing Hope with Fully Living Each Day

As I write this blog, my younger daughter, now 26, has withheld all contact from me for 13 months. It was December, a little over a year ago, that we were last in contact; usually by text, but it was still contact. I thought we were doing well.

That Fall a year ago, we texted […]

By |January 29th, 2023|Current Events, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Estranged Daughter: Balancing Hope with Fully Living Each Day