Category: Wisdom

When All You Want is to Give Up

/ colleen arnold / 8 Comments Featured

Its was one of the worst winters we ever had. Snow was three feet deep on our hilly, gravel road. It was also a time when I worked in the emergency department at the local hospital. ERs don’t shut down no matter the weather, ever.

Knowing I wouldn’t be able to get to work otherwise, the hospital sent the national guard to collect me for the night shift. The snow was too deep for the even Humvee to travel the ¾ mile from the main road, so the soldiers called ahead to say they would walk to my house and carry me back to the vehicle. Mortified, I left home long before they were scheduled to arrive. The snow was literally up to my hips and I made it less than half way before I met two guardsman.

“You were supposed to stay put so we could carry you,” one sweet young man admonished.

“There is no way anyone is going to carry me,” I retorted.

Continue reading →

On Being a Know-It-All

/ colleen arnold / 2 Comments


I am such a know-it-all;  we all are sometimes. And of course, we don’t know everything….

Neil and I were in Tuscany. The scenery was magnificent: narrow medieval streets, beautiful vistas visible from walled cities, history so alive I could feel the ancients walking the cobbled roads with us. Despite all this, the most remarkable part of the trip was my discovery of arugula.

We were seated at an outdoor café in the tiny village of Cortona (home to Betty Mayes and “Under the Tuscan Sun”). Before the waiter even took our order, he brought bread and salads. The bread was warm and fragrant, but the salad got all my attention. Simple sliced pears arranged on a bed of green leaves, and drizzled with good Italian olive oil, it was the most delicious thing I had ever tasted. But it wasn’t the perfect pears or the fine olive oil that impressed me, it was those peppery leaves. “Neil, taste this salad! The greens are amazing!”

He raised his eyebrows with a questioning look. “You mean the arugula?” Continue reading →

Living With The Dying

/ colleen arnold / 2 Comments

This week, my blog post can be found on the wonderful website, Wisdom of the Wounded at:
https://wisdomofthewounded.com/2018/04/26/living-with-the-dying/
In the article I share suggestions for journeying with someone who is terminally ill, learned not only through my experience as a physician, but also as a wife accompanying her dying husband. I hope you will check out my post and explore the site to find all the other great information available there. There are several excellent podcasts and suggestions inspired my suggestions, including a podcast by the founder’s husband about accompanying his best friend who is dying of lung cancer, and a side bar with straightforward tips about caring for a friend with cancer. Even if you can’t use this information right now, you probably know someone who can, so please share it with them!!

Being a Friend to the Terminally Ill

The Best Laid Plans

/ colleen arnold / 4 Comments

It was a hot, humid 4th of July. I had all sorts of family plans in mind – a walk on the river trail behind our house, a picnic lunch, an evening cookout with relatives, and of course, the annual community fireworks.

As so often happens when we make plans, nothing went the way I envisioned. The kids didn’t want to walk because it was too muggy outside. Neil wasn’t hungry so he didn’t feel like having a picnic. I was missing several key ingredients for the side dish I planned to make for dinner and had to change the menu. Frustrated by my thwarted daytime plans, I determined to make sure the evening went exactly as I intended. Continue reading →

When Someone is Grieving, Just Show Up and Help

/ colleen arnold / Leave a comment

In case you missed this news, I have a guest blog posted on the website Wisdom of the Wounded.

http://wisdomofthewounded.com/2018/02/27/when-someone-is-grieving-just-show-up-and-help/

I hope you’ll check it out and share with anyone who might need it. It dovetails nicely with my post on what to say when you don’t know what to say:

When Your Heart Wants To Help, But Your Head Has No Idea What To Say