Last week Thursday was Earth Day!
Earth Day is an annual global event, observed on April 22, that celebrates the environmental movement and raises awareness about pollution and ways to maintain a clean habitat. It started in 1970.
Whether you agree with the notion of a climate crisis or not, we should all choose to be better and more respectful inhabitants of Earth. We can support environmental conservation for ourselves and for living things with whom we share the planet.

A new bundle of joy
My wife and I became new parents two weeks ago to a healthy, five-pound, four-legged bundle of joy that’s keeping us up at night and going through the developmental stages right before our eyes.
I was the instigator to bringing home another fur baby. We had just moved into a new home, out in the country, where there’s plenty of space for the new puppy to roam with our older dog.

We missed Easter this year. Well, most of it. My family of four (my husband, John, daughters Anna, age 11, and Ellen, age 9, and myself) recently spent a week in Florida with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law’s family of five. They have three kiddos—ages 7, 5, and 3, and one more on the way. Basically, the Ingebrands invaded Florida.

Here’s a scary story from the field of science: experiments at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel have successfully grown mouse embryos inside an artificial uterus.
Wait!
What?
The embryos looked perfectly normal, according to the study published in the journal Nature. All their organs developed as expected, along with their limbs and circulatory and nervous systems. Their tiny hearts were beating at a normal 170 beats per minute.
Fake wombs?
Really? Why?

Saturday, while he was standing in shorts and a t-shirt in 60-degree weather, my son, Mecca, muttered, “I’m so glad winter’s over.”
Yes, the lack of snow and warm sun gave him the impression winter was finished.
Yes, the balmy temperatures made us think of packing up the winter boots and shovels.
But, we know better than to be fooled by March’s trickery.
When he said this, I smiled, because Mecca doesn’t say much. I was thrilled we were having a meaningful conversation. I was hoping more would follow.
Alas, the magic was over.

Daylight saving time has returned, prompting many to celebrate with an eye toward warmer temps and the change of seasons. As if on cue, this is a great time as well to celebrate newspapers and the sunshine they deliver to all of our lives and communities.
Reminding citizens and public officials about the public’s right of access to government information is the focus of “Sunshine Week: It’s Your Right to Know,” March 14-20. At its foundation, Sunshine Week underscores preserving the free flow of information for an open, effective and accountable government.

I wanted a unicycle.
I was 10 years old and wanted nothing else—just a unicycle.
I begged for one for my birthday. Begged.
I cut a picture of one out of a magazine and dreamed of riding the darn thing around my driveway.
I would have been so cool.
But, instead, I got a pogo stick.
My parents were “concerned” I’d severely injure myself learning how to ride a unicycle, but for some reason… a pogo stick was “just fine” in their minds.
I was not pleased when I unwrapped the pogo stick.

February is known for Valentine’s Day, heart boxes, roses, and cards proclaiming enduring love.
It is also known for something a lot more important than candy hearts and chocolate.
February 1 to March 1 is Black History Month.
Historian Carter G. Woodson, the second Black man to earn a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University, launched “Negro History Week” in February 1926. He wanted to popularize Black history so ALL Americans,...
To read more on this story, pick up the February 18, 2021 print edition of the Montgomery Messenger.

That seems to be the question everyone is asking themselves: When is it my turn to get the COVID-19 vaccination?
I open my online health care portal almost weekly to see if I have received the message from my healthcare provider that I’m next to get the shot, poke, or jab, or whatever you want to call it.
Or maybe my vaccine instructions will come in the mailbox from the state of Minnesota?

All it took was a mouth full of expired, curdled milk.
And, my darling daughter, Ellen, learned another valuable life lesson!
Always check the expiration date.
My little redhead was simultaneously horrified by the sour, chunky experience and astonished to learn that those little, hard-to-read black letters and numbers on food containers actually mean something.
I’m astonished it has taken this long. She is going to be...
To read more on this story, pick up the February 11, 2021 print edition of the LifeEnterprise.

With all the economic uncertainty, one would understand if people were tighter with their money during these times of a worldwide pandemic, and economic crisis. But the opposite is true.
Throughout the pandemic, a new study shows that Americans have been donating to charitable causes in record numbers. According to a survey of 1,000 Americans on December 30 by TOP Data, and Kindest, a fundraising platform, a new wave of COVID has pushed up charitable donations by...
To see more on this story, pick up the January 28, 2021 print edition of the Montgomery Messenger.

Third grade teachers are super heroes.
Kids come into their classrooms with maybe a slight grasp on basic addition and subtraction and they somehow elevate that knowledge to the world of multiplication tables, division (short and long), fractions, measuring, and figuring out things like area and perimeter.
And don’t forget the word problems!
My Ellen—the redhead—is in third grade. This means my husband and I spend time almost every night tackling third grade homework. Sounds easy, right?
Oh. My. Goodness! It is not easy.

Does your family set a goal each year?
In 2021, my family will be focusing on basic life skills.
Throughout the past year, we, like many families, have hunkered down and spent more time at home together. And, over the course of this pandemic, my husband and I have come to realize...
To see more on this story, pick up the January 14, 2021 print edition of the Montgomery Messenger.

Christmas is over.
You’ve unwrapped your gifts.
Now you have to decide what to do with the things you were given. Some gifts are easy . A soft blanket or throw, clothes, books, or garage tool rack are great gifts that are easy to put to use.
However, sometimes we receive something we’re not quite sure what to do with. Yes, it was a thoughtful, generous gift, but will we ever use it?

The end of 2020 is FINALLY here! That is reason to celebrate!
When I look back on the year, many emotions and thoughts come to me. What a weird year it was, thanks to a global...
To see more on this story, pick up the December 31, 2020 print edition of the Montgomery Messenger.

“Mom, I really like our Christmas tree. It’s not like other people’s trees... Ours doesn’t match.” ~ Ellen, age 8
Oh, the joys of Christmas!
My little redhead is correct. Our tree does not “match.”
It will never be featured in a magazine. It’s not much to look at, until you lose closely.
Every ornament is different, the star is made of cardboard and aluminum foil, and we still wrap our tree in multi-color lights (it’s not a “fancy” pre-lit one).
It’s a glorious hodgepodge of shapes and colors.
My ornaments from childhood hang...