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“OK”.  And with that one word, my 15 year marriage ended.  We had both given up so there were no fights or last hurrahs to save our union.  I wanted our son.  Done.  He wanted his pension.  OK.  We actually negotiated the division of property at Starbucks over lattes.  Dutch treat!

It doesn’t get any better than that for a friendly divorce.

However, I had spent…

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My first encounter with a true diva....please visit my site.  Your comments are welcome

I’m just putting the obvious out there.  Men can’t drive, plain and simple.  I grew up with my Dad always driving the family.  1970s era automobiles lacked the bells and whistles of today’s cars and we were excited for an AM radio station so we didn’t worry about cell phones, texting or GPSs to distract us.  We drove not multitasked when behind the wheel.  Dad drove fast and liked to hit the hills hard to test the shock absorbers in the car.  Living in a town filled with steep hills and…

My career has seen its highs and lows like so many other professionals.  Surprisingly, I peaked professionally at 30 when appointed a Vice President at a large company.  I became a power broker in a major US city.  Meetings with the mayor, lobbying at the state capitol, creating corporate policies and culture handled without flinching.  I hired and fired.  At one point I became the face of this company for the press.  But too many layoffs later, I decided that hiring and firing ate…

http://www.yourbestwritinggroup.com/?p=494

Cheryl, can you be available at 3:15 for a phone conversation?  Finally, I was receiving my new assignment after being promoted 3 weeks before into a job that matched my skills and interests.  Having already started some tasks for my new boss, my energy level soared to meet the challenges placed in front of me.  3:20, the call finally came.  We wanted to let you know that we…

The villagers are starving!  Stores have been emptied of supplies!  Wilted green peppers lay brown and rotting strewn haphazardly across the farm while carrots and green peppers thrive.  No energy remains for harvesting, so the crops remain in the fields bringing the cycle of growth and renewal to a grinding halt.  Wetopia’s population remains stuck at 277 with minimal opportunities for expansion due to the food and supply shortage. 

In a drastic move to increase the…

due out for publication in Adoption Today in 2012

Eight months 15 days, then finally, the call.  “We have a boy, 8 months, weighing 10 pounds from Yekaterinburg.  He can leave in 3 days.”  Three days to travel halfway around the world to Siberia from Philadelphia to finally become a mom.  Scrambling to get my visa and passport ready, 6 suitcases packed and repacked to take everything the baby and I needed for an unknown period of time only to be…

Reprioritizing:  Creating 24 Hours of Bliss

I live a good life, hectic, overscheduled and a tad on the stressful side, but otherwise good.  My two jobs bring joy and challenge through teaching.  I write daily.  I practice yoga faithfully to bring clarity, inner peace and balance.  But some days I fall into bed so exhausted that I cannot move or worse, can’t quiet my mind to sleep.  The cycle of chaos does wear on…

With a Flick of the Wrists

Thick pudgy wrists.  A little boy from Russia would soon take my family from one to two.  The wrists in the grainy faxed photo told me that he was the one.  Those wrists held strength; the only place in his body that did not appear frail.   72 hours later I sat waiting in a barren room deep in the hills of Siberia, Yekaterinburg, a city steeped in history as the last stop for the Romanov family and the birth…

http://soniamarsh.com/2011/12/my-gutsy-story-by-cheryl-stahle.html   Vote for my Gutsy Story!!

Just Another Religious Festival

“OK”.  And with that one word, my 15 year marriage ended.  We had both given up so there were no fights or last hurrahs to save our union.  I wanted our son.  Done.  He wanted his pension.  OK.  We actually…