Entries by Tammy Wise

Doing Nothing Can Change Everything

Our bags backed, goodbyes made, we wait for our ride to the airport home bound. Anthony says, “so much has changed since we got here!” I reply, “but we’ve done nothing?” One week of not having to do the things that shape our daily lives and satisfy our ambitions. One week to relax and recline. […]

NYC Bike Lane Mayhem

As I peddle to the curb to exit the bike lane, I get slammed by a battery operated bicycle. Out of nowhere and at the speed of a motor vehicle, he tries to pass between me and the curb. I hear the bicycles metallic clank as they crash! The next thing I know, I’m climbing […]

A Fireside Chat Ignites Old Ways

Gathered around my cousin’s Christmas Eve fire doing needlepoint, we chatted about everything and nothing. I feel relaxed, engaged and productive. She comments on how big my needlepoint project is, when I’m already so busy with work projects. I had spoken about feeling burnt out. Frustrated, that at my age of 61-years, I was still […]

A Thanksgiving Blessing Rose Out of a Thanksgiving Rejection.

One year and nine months after my sister Sherry’s death, I was rejected by those I had once considered family. I was the only one my sister’s family excluded from the Thanksgiving guest list. Sherry was my only sibling. Being excluded from the holiday table we’d shared my whole adult life was an abandonment from […]

The Cages We Live In

Like Noah’s Arch, I’ve always found it helpful to care for animals in pairs. Presently, I care for two four-leggeds, two winged-ones, two+ finned-ones. While my adopted menagerie of cats, birds and fish highlight differences between species, the pairs offer comradery within species. Creating different environments for different animals to thrive has been my task […]

Am I Pretty Enough?

My job was to sit quietly and let the potions do their magic, while makeup artist Jennifer Snowdon applied and explained the product line. “Mature Makeup Redefined” is the tagline for Alchimie Forever—a skincare line used as basis for glowing makeup application. I modeled for them at The Brand Summit, presented by The Powder Group. […]

Love asks You to Stand in Your Truth

To create the life we want, we extend into an I-don’t-know-abyss to consider new people and things. And also, stay present in I-know-myself-alliances to manage past people and things. But what happens when the old things shift you back into the I-don’t-know-abyss? As I witness my boyfriend, of two-years, I can happily say that loyalty […]

Choosing You to Reclaim Love

We all know people whose identity is wrapped up in being the funny, smart or artistic one. And their sense of value is dependent on broadcasting that “thing.” Their comments regularly remind listeners of this “thing” they believe makes them lovable using shocking jokes, speaking above the mean, or belittling the artistry of others. Not […]

Fired into Silence

When a take over of new management happens, there are casualties. After 15-years of service, my mother’s aid was fired! Or was it actually silencing the voice of reason that could foresee oncoming problems. The senior residence, mom has called home for 8-years, occupies the old Ringling Brothers Circus base camp. You can easily imagine […]

Life and Death Unite in my Spring Garden

Since my sister’s death I am often visited by her. Have you ever had a dead person visit you? It’s easy to explain it as wishful thinking. And, maybe it is? But the timing and unexpected nature of her visits lead me to think otherwise. It can feel like she’s hanging out in the corner […]