I'll remember all the little things we've done . . . .

Anna is in the fourth row from the bottom, far right hand side, in her blue & white PHS choir robe, performing at the January 2010 Illinois Music Educators Association State Choir Concert.




Proud Aunt Cindy (left), Grandpa Wegener, Anna and Grandma Wegener after the performance at All State.


So the last few years have been filled with song - choral or instrumental. Doesn't quite matter which way the music is performed as far as I am concerned, if one my children is performing, I am in the audience. The photos above and the video that I have posted in the link below is one of Anna when she was a senior at Prospect High School. She started off her senior year well but in October was hit in a head-on car crash, while driving home from school. Scary stuff! She and her passengers walked away from the incident, to the astonishment of all the rescue responders. My little Camry, not so lucky, was compressed to 60% of it original size and totalled. I will post more details of that day and accident sometime soon. Just know that there is a happy ending to the story.

The day of the car accident was when District Choir auditions were scheduled after school at a Chicago area north shore high school. I came home from work early to drive Anna and a few of her friends to the audition. Then the accident happened. Once we got the situation taken care of, Anna was shaky but uninjured and didn't think she could go to the audition. "C'mon" I said, "let's give it a go, what do you have to loose?" Besides that, I thought, I offered to drive four other PHS students to the audition so that their working parents could meet them at the school. So I packed the kids in my car and headed for the audition. Anna did go, she did try out - and she made it! Out of 20 some-odd students from Prospect auditioning, nine moved to the District level.

In November, after an all-day workshop and rehearsal, Anna performed at the IMEA District Choir performance at McHenry High School. She loved every minute and as the group of some 300 plus students from all over the northern suburban Chicagoland area performed later that afternoon, my jaw did literally drop to the ground. The performance was recorded by WFMT, a local classical station. I bought the CD from the performance as a cherished keepsake.

After that performance, Anna next auditioned for the Madrigals Choir at Prospect. This was the last goal she wanted to obtain in her high school career as she had done just about everything else musical - bands: marching & concert; jazz band; choirs including treble, concert, varsity; musicals, variety shows; Showchoir: Company (girls), Mixed Company (boys & girls); Showchoir combos. She did everything and anything musical and the Madrigals (the creme de la creme of the top singers of the school) were chosen in November for a series of concerts in December and January. Madrigals or MADS as they are called, are the singers where the girls wear the fancy long elizabethian dresses and the boys are in tights and hats and sing a lot of songs with the words "ye" as lyrics. As a Senior, Anna had a final shot at it. After all, this would be her third year auditioning for a part. No doubt in anyone's mind that she wanted a role, a costume and a fancy renaissance fair type headpiece.

She didn't get the part.

She was crushed, beyond crushed, beyond angry, beyond disappointed.

She began to doubt herself and her musical talent and abilities.

That all changed with one little text message to me a few days later.

"Guess what!"

Not only had Anna auditioned and won a seat in the All District Choir, the director of the All District Choir found her abilities so outstanding that she was given a seat in the All State Choir. Only the top kids from each High School in the State would get a spot. Most schools were lucky to have one representative for the District level and out of all the high school choir students in the state of IL, only 425 got a seat at the All State Choir and Anna was one of them, along with three other Prospect choir classmates.

Each one of the other three classmates from Prospect that made All State all made Madrigals.

Some of the kids picked for Madrigals didn't even make it to the district level, with no chance to make State.

But Anna did, she made it all the way to the All State Choir.

So proud Mom & Dad packed up the car that wintry, cold January weekend. It doesn't matter where and when they perform, I am there in the audience. We drove through the frozen farmland of Illinois to Peoria where we joined the Wegener family for a family reunion to attend the All State concert. Grandma and Grandpa were both beaming, Aunt Cindy, my dear sister-in-law was there along with her son, my tremendously talented nephew who was also performing as part of the All State Jazz Band. So we sat in a the Peoria Civic Center to watch the All State Choir, with Anna, in high heels and her Prospect Choir robe, belting out a song that drove me to tears of joy. They say that music is a powerful healer. In this case, I can say for sure, that healing did occur.

Whisper Words of Wisdom

So one of the things that I have gotten a good bit of practice in lately is - - writing!

In mid 2005, I was called back to the Executive Search world by the dearest boss a girl could have, Miss Margaret, as an account executive. Needless to say, this third invitation during my career to go back to her company was quickly snapped up and accepted. So I returned to my roots of resume reading, screening, interviewing and presenting of candidates. Many a resume I saw, many a resume I tossed, many a resume I worked on the writing to make it presentable for my clients. A return to the fine art of resume writing.

In 2008, with the economy tanking and clients running for the hills, my less than senior status with the firm,found me laid off so, I, too, had to work on my own resume to keep income for sweetie and cutie pie for schooling. The fall 2008 found me working very part time for a good friend from another happy period in my life, my old commercial interior design firm where I worked in the 1980's in their marketing and sales departments. My friend, a co-worker from that era, had since opened up her own shop, a website retailer, and I was asked to do her administrative accounting for her. That was a nice job but sadly, not enough hours to meet the bottom line of looming college tuition, room & board costs. . . back to the writing words of wisdom again on my own resume.

In 2009, I took the first administrative job that would have me. The promise of a 25 - 28 hour work week for a non-for-profit that focused attention to helping cancer patients seemed like a good gig. The cause was noble and the pay would meet those looming bills, but by November of 2010, I was looking again for another gig.

More words of wisdom needed for my new updated resume.

More words of wisdom spoken in interviews.

And while that all too familiar routine of writing interviews, writing cover letters, posting emails, posting attachments, networking, talking, meeting was taking up my attention, I started to give some more thought this time to what I loved to do in my previous positions versus what I simply did. I can do a lot in administration and I make a pretty snappy receptionist but that wasn't all that I could do.

For years, I have been whispering words of wisdom through PR and Marketing in these previous jobs. Quietly, while directed by supervisor, I had been creating voices for others in the social media world. Hours were spent on research on email marketing targets, creative posts, interactive conversations and implementing informative content.

So my thought this past January was . . . why couldn't I take those skills and do them by myself, on my own.

Thus began my umbrella of social media marketing services and consultations became known as Whisper Words of Wisdom. I now trying my hand at posting, liking, following, tweeting, uploading, linking different forms of social media for my clients - a barrel of fun! And the kick is that I really like doing it, I have the time to do it and there are tons of people out there who like the idea in theory but cannot put it together in practice. I have found my nitch - a huge need that I can instantly become valuable. You don't have to let (it) your social media needs be, I can help you! I want to Whisper Words of Wisdom for you or your company. Come join me on what I hope is my new long and winding road.

Penny Lane is in my ears . . . and in my eyes!

So much has happened in the last five years. One of them is the happy addition of Penny Lane, an adorable Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, to the Wegener Family in April, 2008.

Penny came into our lives at a most sad time. The circumstances were this at the time. Jack, our Cavalier King Charles boy, and Miracle, our Cavalier girl both fell ill during Showchoir season in March, 2008. We came home on Sunday from a weekend watching the girls perform with their showchoirs only to find Miracle in sad shape at our dog sitters. I had a sense that she wasn't feeling 100% when we left for the weekend on Friday but she was eating, drinking, doing both businesses outside, so I thought she was just a little under the weather. We left vet information with the sitters and off we went. But when I picked up the dogs on Sunday, clearly, overnight, Miracle had gotten far worse. After dropping Jack off at home, I immediately took her to the vet.

That afternoon, while at the vet, I learned that Miracle, our dear girl, was in kidney failure. Somehow, an infection went to her kidneys and caused a great deal of problems for her, with no way for me or anyone to know. She wasn't in pain but needed intensive care to combat the infection. Worried and upset, the vet sent me home by evening saying that she needed fluids, rest and anti-biotics in their intensive care unit. I woke up to the phone ringing in the early hours of the next morning saying that Miracle passed away, quietly in her sleep, just a few minutes before. The vet was compassionate beyond words. Miracle just had her 8th birthday a few weeks beforehand.

Later that day, we went to the vet's to pick out a nice box to bring home Miracle's ashes. The shock was too raw and too deep plus we all didn't get a chance to say goodbye. Jack was acting funny himself in the morning and I didn't want to take any chances with him, so brought him with us for a vet to observe if I was crazy, or if Jack, too, was falling ill. Another day spent in the vet's office and the diagnosis could not have been more distressing. Jack had an obstructed bowel and needed emergency surgery. I called home to see what to do - take on additional vet expenses or put him down. The answer was quick from the girls - they didn't get to say goodbye to Miracle - "do whatever is needed to bring Jack home". So the surgery was scheduled for the following morning, Monday. Another night, another dog that I had to leave in the intensive care unit at the animal hospital.

Jack survived the surgery, a good piece of his intestine was removed but the vet was still concerned. A piece of plastic, something that Jack could have gotten into in a trash can or off the floor, had ruptured part of the intestine and he too was fighting infection. But the news was good. He was drinking and perking up after the surgery. Rest and more antibiotics were needed so another night for Jack in the intensive care unit. The girls came with me later that night to visit him. He had a bad Frankenstein looking set of stitches along his belly but his head popped up when he heard us call to him when entering the exam room. His tail wagged. Jack was still our Jack.

The phone ran at about 5:15 am the next morning, Tuesday. Jack passed away a few minutes before the call. The infection had turned to sepsis and it was too much for Jack too. Either that or the thought of living without his best buddy, Miracle, was too much for him to bear. The vet now was crying, having to make two phone calls to us in less than three days. Jack was 9, the first dog the girls ever had. Now he was gone too. The next day, I had to go back to the vet for a second time in less than a week to pick out a second box, one for Jack.

For those 10 years or so that we had Jack and Miracle, our lives were blessed. The girls learned how to really take care of a pet and that dogs were not always scary, like the doberman that lived down the street. There was a dog for each one to cuddle with while watching TV. There is a great picture I have of the girls on the first day of school, when I brought Jack, all of a few months old, to introduce to classmates when it was pickup time. Kids surrounded the girls by our minivan, as they held their new pal. Miracle was the focus of a school academic report and got to visit school during Academic Fair night. The girls and I took obedience classes with them both. They had puppy friends that we walked with in the community, neighbors who adored them by petting their furry faces as they poked through the fence spokes and friends were made while attending Cavalier event functions.

I was and have always been struck by Jack and Miracles' last gift to us - passing over to heaven on their own - - releasing us from the burden of deciding when to put them down. They spared us that grief.

So in April, still heartbroken and sad from the lack of energy in the house and the pitter patter of toe nails on the hardwood floors, a friend emailed me the link to a Cavalier breeder in Wisconsin. There were two puppies for sale, a boy and a girl. A few emails were exchanged and I was invited to visit the Mom Cavalier and the two pups in Lake Geneva. I cried when I arrived, two dogs that looked just like Jack and Miracle were wagging their tails, watching me from the glass storm door with the front door open.

The girl was the leader of the two, that was clear! She bounced and jumped on her brother like a tomboy. She then bounced and jumped into my lap while I sat on the floor. She didn't come home with me because she wasn't available for sale, the boy was. I was not ready yet to make a decision, the pain and loss were still all difficult to handle. The dear owner was compassionate and helpful, and I appreciated the fact that she let me hold them both. While I didn't think I could bring her home, miracles do happen and over the next few days, on my birthday, the owner reconsidered and offer the girl pup to us. The girls and I raced to Lake Geneva to take ownership of our new pup. Her copper coloring just above her eyebrows made someone tell me that she looked like she had pennies on her forehead. Pennies? Penny? Penny Lane!

More stories about Penny Lane in future posts, but the lesson for all is this. Pet loss is a real grief experience. Jack and Miracle were great gifts to us and their loss, so sudden and so unexpected, still haunts me to this day, emotionally. Financially, the vet bills took nearly a year to pay off and thank heavens our vet extended a line of credit to us for all the emergency surgery and three days in intensive care expenses. You will be happy to note that Penny Lane is fully covered under pet insurance and at 3 years of age, has not lost one spring of her bouncy, silly, diva self.


My sweet one with Jack and Miracle, in happier times.

It's been a long, long . . . long time!

It's time.

It's time to refresh my old manuscript of life events and world happenings. A Day in the Life blog has taken a long, long hiatus. It is time that "it woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across its head . . ."

My goal in writing is simple now - to create a way for me to learn facinating new things while taking a moment to remember milestones. Not a big goal like world peace or anything fancy like that. I have a sinking feeling that the history our children's children's children will learn will be based on fancy spots of writing just like this, aka Blogs! So not wanting to be left out, its time for me to put my foot back in - to test the waters. So far, I feel fine.

And if that wasn't nearly lofty enough of a goal for you, well, maybe you just want to check in to see what has happened next. That's okay too. Some of us have longer attention spans than others. No big whoop.

Check in to follow what happens next: Will Sweetie Pie and Cutie Pie ever reveal their true names? What happened to Jack and Miracle? Did I ever get to another Paul McCartney concert? . . .the answers will follow soon enough for and "Your Mother will Know".