I am Aunty M—one heck of a cook, a retired designer, color expert (yup, it's a thing), and photographer. These days I'm a writer-blogger who's facing down cancer, hopefully with grace and style. Having a supportive and loving husband helps. I was born with a curious mind to bright parents, and couldn't wait to learn how to do ANYTHING better. And I mean ANYTHING. It drove my folks, siblings, and some teachers nuts. Criticism hurt back then, but I soon learned, criticism can be a good thing, especially when I was willing to learn from it and didn't run to the girls' room to cry. In the 1960s and ’70s there were no trophies for showing up when I was a kid. Kids got flunked and held back a grade. There were no gold stars for sitting in a seat. Nope, it was like this . . . blue ribbons for cooking and prizes at the science fair only went to the best. In track, the sprinter who broke the tape won the race, not the last guy across the finish line. I thank God for the older and wiser folks who taught me that, who helped guide me on my peculiar path. From them I came to realize that failure was simply an opportunity to try again. And boy! Did I fail a lot. Now I am older and wiser and still just as curious as I was when little. I have oodles of crazy stories to share, hints on how to cook better, clues for how to live better and love greater, and the fun ways to get a kid to giggle. I bet you have your stories to tell, too. Shall we begin?