Month: March 2016

• Scared Skinnier

  Almost a year ago, on May 18, 2015, I visited a new medical practice to have an initial consultation as my internist was in the process of retiring. I asked the mother of one of my students, married to a doctor, for recommendations from him of doctors with offices near the school where I teach.…

  michardillo

  March 27, 2016

  Essay

  blood sugar, cardiac bypass, cholesterol, diet, health, low-carb, triglycerides, type 2 diabetes, weight loss

• Floating Like a Social Butterfly Can Sting Like a Bee

  My dad was a handful, a real character. His classic repertoire of stories was filled with his escapades and shenanigans from a very young age, up until the day he married my mother, November 20, 1954. He settled down in a big way to woo her into first dating him, and then marrying him. Even…

  michardillo

  March 20, 2016

  Essay

  extrovert, gala, homebody, introvert, opposites attract, social butterfly, social media

• Reflection and Renovation

  Exciting news for me! One of my essays, Reflection and Renovation, made the front page of a local regional newspaper that publishes news about our area’s Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Washington. As this is a newspaper for parents, faculty, and students of Catholic schools, this essay has a spiritual theme based on the…

  michardillo

  March 17, 2016

  faith

  Catholic Church, Chip Gaines, Fixer Upper, HGTV, Joanna Gaines, Lent, Year of Mercy

• The Elephant in the Room

  As my regular readers may know, I have always been a cat person although currently I am the catless owner of an eight-year-old Maltipoo named Puccini. In fact, my very first essay published on Cajun Girl in a Kilt was “License to Carry”, a tongue-in-cheek essay about Puccini’s reluctance to go up and down the…

  michardillo

  March 13, 2016

  Essay

  cat, Cat in the Rain, Ernest Hemingway, Italy, Maltipoo, padrone

• Iron-Gray Magnolia

  William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily” has always intrigued me. When completing course work for my certification in secondary education, this somewhat dark tale of a Southern belle was part of the syllabus for a course on the short story as a type of fiction. Of the thirty short stories covered in that…

  michardillo

  March 6, 2016

  books, Essay

  A Rose for Emily, Designing Women, Dolly Parton, Julia Sugarbaker, Margaret Mitchell, Robert Harling, Scarlett O’Hara, southern belle, Steel Magnolias, Tara, William Faulkner