I’d like to start this post by apologizing for not posting anything for a couple months. I have a half dozen posts staged for the blog, but I’ve been going through some emotional changes. Some are good, I think. One of the good things is that I have the ability to tell stories of Karen…
Author: Charlie
Christmas Tree at Ironwood
I haven’t been in much of a Christmas mood, but I still needed to do something. The tree in the picture has three ornaments. The blue “Tardis” is mine, the owl is for Karen, and the little orb is just for decoration. Merry Christmas and happy holidays
A Christmas Update
I haven’t posted to Karen’s blog in a while, but that doesn’t mean I’m not thinking of her, and it doesn’t mean that there isn’t more to say on her blog. I should be posting more often, but I’ve been struggling with the challenges of navigating forward. I still haven’t really come to terms with…
Giving Away Pieces of Karen
Karen always gave of herself. It’s one of the things she’s remembered for by friends, and even by strangers. Although she was secretly introverted (and I’ll speak of that another time), she was lightning fast to step in and offer help when needed. She loved to help people who wanted to better themselves. Sometimes it’s…
A Little Something to Keep Karen in Your Thoughts
Okay, maybe we don’t need anything to inspire us to keep Karen in our thoughts. I think of her constantly, and speak about her every day to the friends around me, the people I work with, and not infrequently with complete strangers. It’s not uncommon for somebody to have a tear in their eye. I…
Wildflowers for Karen
When Karen passed away, we provided wildflower packets. In the months that followed, MCR Medical (the company Karen helped found) gave away more than a thousand of those wildflower seed packets. We taped a picture of Karen and a little message to each packet. But now, MCR Medical has those wildflower seed packets as a…
It’s a Party, Rain or Shine
We’re getting together for Karen next Saturday (June 22), rain or shine. Unfortunately, it’s going to be rainy around here. We’re expecting rain every day through next weekend, and we just finished up with a rainy weekend. I’m guessing it will be too muddy to plant a tree in Karen’s honor, so we might forego…
Yes, It’s Been a Year
It’s been a year since Karen passed, today, and I’m not sure what to say in this blog post. She would want us to remember the happy times with her. She would want us to be happy in general. She would not want us to concentrate on the bad times, and she would not want…
An Invitation to Ironwood Manor to Honor Karen
Over the last couple months I’ve started a half dozen blog posts, but keep deleting them before posting. I’m not quite sure how to describe how I feel. The anniversary of Karen’s passing is causing me some distress, so it’s been a bit challenging to post things on Karen’s blog that don’t reflect my state…
A Little Something Special
Karen’s mom Agnes asked me about an image of Karen yesterday and I thought I might share a little about it on the blog. Some of you knew Karen from a distance, and some more closely, but we all knew her smile. Or at least the lucky ones did. Here’s the picture of one of…

