When we think about someone grieving, we often associate that when a death has occurred. In talking to my caregivers, however, many express that they are already grieving even though their loved one is still alive. It makes sense, however, as we know with dementia, it can be a long journey watching the losses one’s loved one is experiencing.
Over the past year and a half, I have joined several mayors from around the state in an online noon meeting, often every two weeks and lately every month. Mayors from Metro area cities of St. Louis Park, Edina, Lakeville, Minnetonka, Egan, Burnsville, and Savage are usually there. Greater Minnesota Mayors are from Fergus Falls, Marshall, Becker, Willmar, Moorhead, Duluth, Northfield, Bemidji, Ely, and Rochester.
My condolences to the family of Gary Holtan. Gary married Marie Johnson Holtan.
After a streak of days with bitterly cold temperatures, we warmed-up on Saturday all across the state of Minnesota. High temperatures on Saturday were into the 20s above zero for many locations. However, many spots in southwestern Minnesota made it into the mid-30s. This was short-lived as a cold-front pushed back into the state. By Saturday afternoon, some locations had fallen into the lower teens.
As I write this week's column, I'm sitting in a hotel room in New York City listening to the sounds of my sister snoring. Each year, we take a "sister's trip" somewhere. It's always a very short weekend filled with chaos and lots of running to and fro, trying to see as much as we can in a short amount of time, usually with a small budget.
Although we are deep into winter, planning is underway for the next construction season’s street and utility improvements in most cities this time of the year. Granite Falls is no exception. Planning those future improvements is not restricted to only fair-weather months. It takes several meetings and a large amount of preparation to assemble a proposed list of projects. There is engineering work and financial planning to be done, as well as studying the impact of those projects on nearby property owners and the entire community.
Signing up for social security benefits or Medicare benefits doesn’t need to be a time-consuming hassle complete with long waits on the phone. Both can be done at ssa.gov which is the Social Security Administration’s secure website. No matter which end of the technology/comfort spectrum you are on: whether you are comfortable with online sign-ups and just want an extra set of eyes or don’t own a computer and wouldn’t know where to start, I am available to help you through the process.
On the day before Christmas Eve, during all the anticipation and the hubbub leading up to the biggest holiday of the year, there was a brief six-minute, day brightener of a story on Minnesota Public Radio. That uplifting story had roots out here that reach back over 150 years, to a time when Norwegian immigrant farmers were settling the far reaches of northwestern Renville County and continues to this day.
January 6th is Epiphany. Epiphany is when Christians celebrate the revealing of God to humanity in human form through Jesus. One of the definitions is the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as symbolized by the Magi in Matthew 2:1–12.
This week we enter the first days of new ownership under CherryRoad Media. It's an exciting time with a lot to accomplish, and probably the most proper way to start a new year. I, myself, have become rather accustomed to January being a quiet month, with not a lot going on, and a lot of focus on the temperatures and snowfall. I find myself creatively stunted and usually start to dream of traveling to new places. However, this year there's a lot to do and it will be a busy month full of activity and new challenges.