Donna Vickroy – Page 14

Sometimes decking the tree a little early is the only way to create a bit of cheer when life problems and world issues start taking a toll.

Vickroy: I need a little Christmas, right this very minute

November 13, 2023 at 2:40 p.m.

Christmas crashed Halloween's party this year. It's been a rough 2023. My father passed away. My sister has terminal cancer. Around the world there are wars, desperation, fear. At times,...

Trish and Rick Knoll have discovered the great outdoors — right in their back yard — thanks to Forest Preserve District of Will County's Take It Outside Challenge. The New Lenox couple say they've lost weight and feel better by completing the tasks at area forest preserves that are part of the contest.

Vickroy: Thanks to forest preserve challenge, suburban couple has traded zoning out to TV for communing with nature

November 7, 2023 at 2:27 p.m.

An intriguing challenge from the Forest Preserve District of Will County has lured Trish and Rick Knoll out of the easy chair, out of the house and, often enough, out...

While you may miss the creativity and the comaraderie of being in an office, few people miss the boring meetings, the daily grind or the structured schedule that comes with it, columnist Donna Vickroy says. This scene from the old TV show "The Office" captures both the bad and the good.

Vickroy: It’s time to back to the office? Um, OK, but not every day

October 31, 2023 at 10:22 a.m.

Corporate America seems confounded as to why many of its workers are not going gently back into the office. I have to say some of my best work experiences, best...

When the grandkids want to use their imaginations and have adventures, Oona and Papa forget their aching backs and sometimes unreliable muscles to join in the fun, columnist Donna Vickroy says.

Vickroy: They’re only young once so when they play Dr. Frankenstein, we’re glad to be their monster

October 23, 2023 at 4:15 p.m.

Inside the makeshift laboratory, the mood is serious. Instruments are lined up on the dresser: A plastic stethoscope, tubes of pinkish greenish goo, an assortment of Hello Kitty and Peppa...

Spider webs are more prevalent at this time of year than at others because spiders are trying to catch the bugs they need to fatten themselves up for the long winter ahead.

Vickroy: It’s time to give the unfairly maligned spider a little of the respect it’s due

October 16, 2023 at 2:16 p.m.

Let's be honest, what's scarier than a spider? Oh, I don't know — maybe the red dye in candy corn? Here we are, living our best life on a glorious...

Dr. Zaher Sahloul, left, and Dr. John Kahler, cofounders of south suburban based MedGlobal, a humanitarian,nongovernmental organization, enter the Gaza Strip through the Erez Crossing on a previous medical mission.

Vickroy: As the Israeli-Hamas war escalates, suburban doctors stress the plight of civilians in Gaza

October 12, 2023 at 5:10 a.m.

A horrified Israel pounds the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the recent Hamas terrorist attack, and the 2.3 million Palestinians trapped in the tiny 25-mile stretch of land watch as...

After both your parents have died, it dawns on you that you are now an "orphan" and the loss of those two people who were your rocks -- even as you became their caretaker -- has left a huge gap in your life, columnist Donna Vickroy says.

Vickroy: Like a rogue wave, the death of your parents can knock you off balance

October 3, 2023 at 12:11 p.m.

At first, the business of death keeps you spinning. There's the funeral: Burial instructions. Flowers. Luncheon. Photo boards. Thank-you cards. Hours and hours of talking, explaining, comforting, being comforted. There...

Children under the age of 18 don't have privacy when it comes to cellphones and other technologies, expert Rich Wistocki says, especially if parents want ensure they aren't being cyberbullied or sextorted.

Vickroy: Ignore your kid’s tech use at your own peril — and theirs — because cyberbullies, sextortion are everywhere

September 26, 2023 at 3:23 p.m.

Nearly half of U.S. teens have been bullied or harassed online, according to a 2022 Pew Research Center report. A new Illinois laws aims to curb this behavior by mandating...

Team Smitty's Laughing Fools, headed by Lorrie Smietanski, front center with hat, will walk in memory of Lorrie's late husband, Gary Smietanski, in the ALS Walk for Life Saturday at Chicago's Soldier Field.

Vickroy: Decades after losing her husband to ALS, woman remains dedicated to walking for a cure

September 19, 2023 at 1:03 p.m.

It has been more than 30 years since Lorrie Smietanski lost her beloved husband, Gary "Smitty" Smietanski, to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, an aggressive disease that only needed six years to...

Jimmy Buffett, seen here performing in Delray Beach, Florida, on May 2021, loved the life he sang about but fun in the sun caught up with him when he died Sept. 1 from an agressive form of skin cancer.

Vickroy: Jimmy Buffett promoted sun worship in life; will the message be sun protection in death?

September 11, 2023 at 8:06 p.m.

Is it cruel irony or poetic justice that the very thing you celebrate gets you in the end? By many accounts, Jimmy Buffett lived the dream he often sang about,...

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