Liz Savino's Continuing Blog

A quick "Easter" story that always make me laugh.  My grandmother (Hazel* Elizabeth Pennock Martin) told me this story  - so I know it’s true. She was a stalwart and honest woman whom I greatly admired. This incident took place circa 1934. My grandmother and her girlfriend were two new mothers. Picture them sitting and drinking coffee at an enamel/ metal table in a small kitchen in Toronto, Ontario - the same table on which my father was born in 1930. Their two children (both boys) were playing under the table with some wooden trucks. (Social commentary: isn't it nice to envision the slower pace of the world at this time. I know it was in the middle of the Great Depression and times were tough, but just thinking about two young women sharing coffee, conversation, and TIME! I like to imagine that they helped each other through this period in our history.) My dad, Paul Martin, was my grandmother’s first born and he was one of the wee boys under the table. He was four ...

My dad gave me some very good advice a long time ago. He told me there were two types of people in the world: givers and takers. If you want a happy life, all you have to do was to surround yourself with givers… and to be a giver, too.  Simple, elegant, and true. I’ve been very sad the last few weeks and I haven’t been able to write. My dear friend has been really sick and this week we lost her.   Maureen Sheeran Isenberg was one of the most giving people I’ve ever met.   I was one of many who absolutely adored her. She and I met each other at work 30 years ago and over the years developed a deep and lasting bond. She moved away from Buffalo, but we kept in touch by meeting ½ way for dinner, exchanging books, stories, and laughs. What drew me to her initially was her sense of humor. She was witty and irreverent and knew exactly how to make me laugh. She wasn’t just amusing, she was hilarious. And her incredible memory made her storytelling even more compelling. She co...