September 2017
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I THOUGHT I’D BE DOING THE HAPPY DANCE
“All of the other parents have left, Mom,” my daughter said matter-of-factly as I walked into her dorm suite with an armload of groceries, having slogged up seven flights of stairs.
social life, I didn’t see much of my daughter her last year at home anyway. I might not even realize she was gone! “No sadness for me,” I thought in the weeks leading up to Drop- Off Day. Save the tears for those other moms. Poor things. I’d probably even be doing the happy dance about having successfully launched one adult into the world. Boy, was I in for a surprise when it was time to leave the dorm to begin the five-hour drive home, less one child.
Guess she thought I couldn’t take a hint. Geez!
We’d spent hours moving in. Over 7,000 new University of Alabama freshmen were hauling their stuff into their dorms! It was a huge production. Parking was obviously a joke. But that wasn’t what made the day so hard.
“Hold it together, sister,” I told myself as I hugged my daughter goodbye.
I had been preparing for this for 18 years — the day I would drop off my baby girl at college, never to live at home with me again (vacations and breaks don’t count). Finally, the anticipation of this big day would be over. I expected to feel some relief about that, but it paled in comparison to the melancholy of saying goodbye. For months beforehand, I was secretly looking forward to having one less child in the house to worry about. Kind of the “out of sight, out of mind” deal. Yes, I knew I’d worry about her at college, but
Although no tears were shed in the dorm (my daughter didn’t give me the chance for any waterworks as she hustled us out of the door), they were close by, and I was unusually quiet and melancholy on the drive home. Out of sorts, I’d guess you’d say. Life will never be the same for my daughter or me again. I tried to recall what my life was like before kids. It was so long ago and so much has happened since then that I honestly cannot remember. I guess we’ll both be taking our newfound “freedom” one day at a time.
I wouldn’t be waiting
up for her to come home each night. I have raised her to be very independent, and, frankly, between her job, school, and
I’m feeling a little better now, but I still think about her constantly, wondering what she is doing and if she’s having fun.
I suppose this emptiness in my heart will lessen with time. At least I hope so.
- Kristen “Not Doing the Happy Dance” Marks
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The nutritional benefits of fruits and vegetables hardly need explaining. While the stock of protein, carbs, and fat seems to rise and fall at random, the value of fruits and veggies never wavers. These health staples, though, can put a dent in your wallet if you’re not making the right choices at the market. One way to feed your family healthy and delicious produce on the cheap is to eat seasonally. Not only will this save you money, but you will also vary your diet, support local farms, and put the freshest foods on your table. Ever wonder why tomatoes cost so much more in December than in July? The answer is simple: shipping distance. The less a tomato needs to travel to make it to your plate, the less it will cost. Transporting produce long distances is expensive because it needs to be protected and temperature- controlled. Eating seasonally means you’ll save a ton on fruits and veggies. Even better is to cut out the middleman entirely and buy directly from a supplier. In his exceptional cookbook, “Six Seasons: A New Way With Vegetables,” Joshua McFadden writes, “The best way to eat with the seasons is to frequent and support local farms, markets, and grocery stores that are doing good things.” Farmers markets have exploded in number and popularity recently, and the USDA website (ams. usda.gov) has a directory of markets that you can search for by ZIP code. Learning what’s in season at a given time might seem like a daunting task, but there are plenty of tools to help you. Again, the farmers market is your friend here. You can ask what’s in peak season now and what to look forward to in the coming weeks. Apps like Farmstand will also let you know the freshest crops in your area and alert you to deals on produce. Even if you opt for a grocery store rather than farmers market, you can still save by eating seasonally. You’ll be shocked how much you save by buying what’s on sale. And guess which items are usually on sale? The ones that are in- season and abundant. Getting the nutritional benefits and great taste of fresh produce doesn’t need to cost an arm and a leg. Eat seasonally and locally, and the savings will pile up. FRESHER, CHEAPER, TASTIER
There are many wonderful charity groups in the Pensacola area, but few are able to put as many people to work as The Arc Gateway. The organization provides 450 people with jobs, 250 of which are those with disabilities. That makes The Arc not only a finder of work for people with disabilities, but a provider. The Arc Gateway is one of 39 Arc locations in the state and 750 locations nationwide of the Arc charity organization. They aim to improve the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities through training, education, and work programs. Missy Rogers, the current CEO of The Arc Gateway, says you’d be hard-pressed to find work more rewarding than helping the disabled. “I love seeing successes in individuals we serve,” she says. “Sometimes those successes are small in scope, such as someone learning to brush their teeth properly, getting a job at McDonald’s, or a disabled child taking their first steps. But it means the world to those individuals.” Missy relocated to Gulf Breeze in 2014 to take the position as CEO after working as the chief operating officer at the Fort Walton Beach Arc. She has devoted her the last 20 years of her life to the disability work since it “fell into her lap” 20 years ago. “Since then, I’ve never looked in another direction,” she says. Beneficiaries of The Arc Gateway participate in several programs, including education and development programs and employment training. They are put to work in The Arc’s plant nursery, secure document shredding facility, gift shop, and more. Missy says one of the best ways to support The Arc Gateway is by using these services. Other ways to help include volunteering for events, helping at gift shops, and by donating through their website, arc-gateway.org. Florida’s Arc locations operate with a severe handicap, as the Sunshine State ranks second-to-last nationwide in funding for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. My Pink Lawyer® encourages you to support local charities like The Arc Gateway with your time, financial support, and however else you can! CHARITY SPOTLIGHT: THE ARC GATEWAY
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PROTECT YOUR RETIREMENT ASSETS WISE WOMEN HAVE A PLAN FOR THIS
Did you know that 90 percent of IRAs are cashed out by their beneficiaries during the contributor’s lifetime? That means before you die, your children could already be using up their trust money. So much for providing for your child’s retirement when you die!
• Create ongoing trusts for minors or disabled children
• Provide divorce or creditor protection
Besides, IRAs are funded with tax-deferred dollars, which makes the money they cash out heavy with income taxes that
• Provide for a “new”
surviving spouse for his lifetime, while ensuring his retirement balance continues to your children. If your beneficiary has special needs or is receiving public assistance benefits, the IRA can account for that too. Just make sure the ends justify the means. IRA inheritance trusts will be an additional expense to your estate planning, and they require ongoing maintenance expenses once you die.
go along with it. So what can you do to protect these assets? Wise women plan for their retirement assets in a special way.
You can create specially designed retirement inheritance trusts to receive and manage the retirement funds, rather than create the usual liquid assets. For instance, you can make sure an IRA trust prevents the beneficiary from cashing out the IRA early and forces them to take distributions over a longer period of time.
That’s one of the many ways you can design a special IRA trust. You can also use them to ...
• Guarantee the maximum stretch for the payment of income taxes
A wise woman will talk to her estate planning lawyer to decide if the value of her retirement assets and particular goals justify the use of an IRA inheritance trust.
MEME CORNER
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Inside This Issue
Dropping My Daughter Off at College page 1 Fresher, Cheaper, Tastier Society’s Most Vulnerable People page 2
Wise Women Have a Plan for This page 3
3 TV Shows That Returned to TV After Years Off the Air page 4
THE WAIT IS OVER 3 TV SHOWS THAT RETURNED TO TV AFTER YEARS OFF THE AIR
Roseanne A staple on American airwaves between 1988 and 1997, “Roseanne” was considered one of the best portrayals of the American working family on television. In May, Roseanne Barr and ABC announced a 10th season for 2018. This season comes 21 years after the last episode of the series, and most of the original cast is set to return, including John Goodman and both Beckys, Lecy Goranson and Sarah Chalke. Twin Peaks After an astonishing 26 years off the air, “Twin Peaks” made its return to television earlier this year. The cult show originally ran for two seasons on ABC in 1990 and 1991. Since then, it has been called one of the best TV dramas of all time. In 2014, original series creators David Lynch and Mark Frost revealed they were resurrecting the series for Showtime. Finally, in May 2017, they lived up to that promise.
How long would you expect to wait for the next season of your favorite TV show? Six months? Nine months? How about 21 years? You may have noticed a recent phenomenon on television: the revival of long-dead shows. This trend kicked off with “Arrested Development” in 2013. Off the air since 2006, the show was picked up by Netflix for a fourth season. With a fifth season set for 2018, let’s take a look at a few other shows back on the air after years in obscurity. The X-Files This science fiction classic originally aired between 1993 and 2002 on Fox. After nine seasons (and a couple of movies), the show still hadn’t wrapped up its storyline. The show was brought back to TV in January 2016 for limited six-episode run. This was 14 years after the initial series finale. Though the revival wasn’t well-received by fans, an 11th season is in production.
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