Joan Gershman
Bio
Retired - Speech/language therapist, Special Education Asst, English teacher
Websites: www.thealzheimerspouse.com; talktimewithjoan.com
Whimsical essays, short stories -funny, serious, and thought-provoking
Weightloss Series
Stories (100/0)
HALF MY SIZE AFTER BARIATRIC SURGERY
“Why is my food so far away from me?”, I asked my friend sitting across from me in the restaurant booth. For as long as I could remember if I was able to squeeze into a booth, the table was squished up against my chest so tightly, the plate of food was practically in my mouth. Now there was over a foot distance between me and the table.
By Joan Gershman2 years ago in Longevity
The Life Lessons I Learned From My Quadriplegic Cousin
Dear Donald, I never told you, when you were alive, how I felt about you, the accident, or the effect you had on my life. I recently started writing for an online platform, Vocal. media. After publishing my 50th story, I was thinking about what my next story topic should be. You immediately came to my mind. Coincidentally, Vocal was running a contest, a Challenge, they called it, to write about someone who was a mentor to us; an inspiration. I was going to write your story regardless of the Challenge, but when I read the rules that stated that this Challenge was “dedicated to all the influential people who have made a positive impact in our lives. To all the mentors who have given us a helping hand, kept us inspired, and motivated us to conquer all our goals, we want to uplift and thank you”, I knew it was time to thank you for what you meant to my life. I knew it was time to tell your story.
By Joan Gershman2 years ago in Motivation
The Survey - Should I Get a Dog?
Warning! This is an interactive article that will need input from you. It’s a survey about a pressing subject that has been keeping me up nights. Should I get a dog? My most recent story, Dogs are People Too, describes in detail my 50-year love affair with dogs. A shortlist of why I adore dogs:
By Joan Gershman2 years ago in Petlife
Dogs Are People Too
If you have ever lived with a dog, this is a no-brainer for you. You know with absolute certainty that dogs have personalities and emotions the same as humans. If you are a scientist, it has taken you a little longer to accept this conclusion. Like maybe a century. Up until recently, most scientists who study these things have believed that dogs reacted to events around them, but were incapable of feeling the human emotions of love, jealousy, animosity, joy.
By Joan Gershman2 years ago in Petlife
Writing Without Researching is NOT an Option
This is going to be Stupid Easy, I told myself. Anyone with a modicum of writing ability could compose a silly Harlequin Romance. I was a full-grown adult with a degree in English and Education. I had always achieved top writing grades in college. In the years following graduation, I had not only dabbled in teaching writing but was called upon by my work colleagues to edit the Special Education reports they were required to submit to Administration on each of their students. No one would submit a report without it passing by my editing pen first.
By Joan Gershman2 years ago in Journal
Freezing in Florida
The day before Halloween 2020, I wrote a blog for my website about my walking routine and posted pictures of me decked out in my Capris, neon tee shirt, along with my supply bag of ice water and sweat rag, among other necessary items for walking in the Southern Florida oppressive heat and unbearable humidity. Yes, the heat and humidity last well into October in my area of Florida. That blog has since been published as a story on Vocal.- The Walking Queen.
By Joan Gershman2 years ago in Earth
The Walking Queen
*****NOTE: My most recent story about my walking – Traveling the World Without Leaving My Basement – details my current walking status while I am temporarily living in Frozen Chicago with my sister. This is the story of how it all started, a blog I wrote for my talktimewithjoan.com website – how after bariatric surgery, excruciating back pain, and life-threatening illnesses, I went from being unable to walk from the kitchen to the bedroom to walking 5 miles at once! I hope it inspires you.
By Joan Gershman2 years ago in Motivation
An Owl's Wisdom Guides My Life
No one in my family had time for me, and if they did bother to pay any attention to me, they were confused and befuddled by me. I wasn’t like the rest of them. They were simple old-time country farmers with minimal education and no understanding of why any of their kind would seek more out of life than what I could see as only life-draining labor with little reward. As young as 6 years old, I had a fire burning within me; a yearning to read, learn, travel, and write. I sure as Hell don’t know where it came from, but it was there from as far back as I could remember, and it could not be extinguished.
By Joan Gershman2 years ago in Confessions
Clueless Scientists Conduct a Diet Study
If you have been reading My Weight Loss Journey Through Bariatric Surgery series, you know that I have struggled with my weight for my entire life. Before my bariatric surgery finally helped me get a handle on my weight problem, there was not a weight loss program in existence that I had not tried. Weight Watchers, Diet Workshop, Atkins, 900 calorie a day restriction, Physician’s Weight Loss, Jenny Craig, Richard Simmon's Deal a Meal, Slimfast Shakes. The list is endless. I was unable to stick to any of them because I was always starving on them. Lunchtime seemed to be my breaking point. Depending upon which diet I was attempting at any given time, I ate all my Weight Watcher points, used up all of my Deal a Meal Cards, drank all of my allotted Slimfast Shakes, or ate all 900 calories, by lunchtime.
By Joan Gershman2 years ago in Longevity