Recent events south of the border reminded me of an experience I had in middle school. I was eleven years old, and our grade six class occupied one of those dreadful portables that in the day had a legacy of everything from throat irritations to respiratory illnesses. The interior would have been dreadful had it […]
Author Archives: Djanka Gajdel
It’s too easy to say that 2020 was a shitty year. Challenging, yes, forcing us to behave outside of our routine, absolutely, but the accelerant that COVID served to create change – monumental. That said, here are some of the insights I gained in a year otherwise enveloped in challenges and shifts. 1. The game […]
Christmas 2020 was similar to Christmas 1987. Long before the pandemic, it was its own version of “Schitt’s Creek.” A year ripe with divorces, double-digit interest rates, and bankruptcies. In my third year of marriage, surrounded by our own challenges at the time, I decided to create a quasi Christmas dinner/party that celebrated the goodness […]
Not a day passes that I don’t suffer from Roborhea. The digital diarrhea of excessive robocalls. The symptoms are identical, discomfort, uneasiness and wanting it to stop. Scammers have hijacked my daily calls. This inundation of robocalls has trained me not to pick up any call whose number I don’t recognize. Alexander Graham Bell would […]
“What Were You Thinking” is happy to announce that our family is growing. We will be hosting monthly blogposts by award-winning financial planner Jackie Porter. Jackie is a best selling author and speaker who has helped thousands of clients grow their net worth while building a fortress around their finances, focusing on keeping more of […]
It’s ironic, the appearance of Catholicism of late showing up in the U.S. election.There are those Catholics voting for Trump and those voting for Biden. The same faith, two camps, go figure? Another example of how fractured Catholicism is. Adding to both camps’ polarization is the Pope’s recent announcement for gay couples, endorsing civil unions. […]
I’ve been enveloped by strong women my entire life, so it makes sense that my heroes emanate that same quality. I appreciate their strength, fortitude and how they inspire me. Though intimidating to some, these women are frequently misunderstood for declaring themselves. One of those dynamic women in my band of heroes has recently passed […]
When I started this blog, I couldn’t begin to imagine that I’d be writing from the lens of a pandemic, but here I am. Life has shifted, and so have the vistas of middle-aged women. One such revelation being patience. If ever one was to have mastery around patience, now is the moment. Our environment […]

Aug
People are speaking about entering a new normal, but what is normal? Sanitizing my handbags and my shoes’ soles are now normal—Lysol serving as my new fashion etiquette. My dedicated leather COVID handbag, which was sanitized regularly, faired no better than my salt-stained winter boots. Lacking in resiliency from the routine spraying, I was forced […]
COVID showed us the dangers that lurk in a deadly virus, one that we know has the potential to transmute itself and compromise human life. Racism does the same. It’s equally nasty. No surprise, with striking similarities, they’ve surfaced back to back during these unique times. Where people with COVID struggle to breathe, so did […]