I have some favorite authors and Liane Moriarty is definitely part of that group. Her books are creative and unexpected, with memorable characters in unique situations surrounded by mystery.

Here is my review of her latest book.

Would being told the expected age and cause of your death change how you live your life? Would you believe such a prediction was true? What would you do with such knowledge?

On a short flight, the lives of many passengers and a crew member are changed when a strange woman, later dubbed “Death Lady,” walks the aisles of the plane, pointing and predicting. Her unwelcome words disturb the passengers, especially the ones who are told to expect their deaths within the next year.

Here One Moment follows the aftermath of the predictions, as well as telling the personal story of the Death Lady. I found her narrative to be particularly engaging. Author Liane Moriarty once again brings to life on the page quirky and believable characters in unusual situations. This intense book drew me in, kept me reading, and surprised me along the way. Readers who like suspenseful and twisty books will love this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

You can get a copy here or wherever books are sold. This is an affiliate link; thank you for supporting my work.

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I have written my memoir, You are Not Alone: My Experience with Postpartum Depression, as one way of helping new moms. It’s the book I needed when I was going through it. More than a memoir, it’s also a self-help book and devotional. The book can be read in 5-minute sessions, such as when mom has a quick break in the bathroom.

Below is a sample “chapter” from the book. Each begins with an excerpt from the journal I kept during the months I was experiencing PPD. Then I address the topic and offer a prompt to interact with the recorded memory.

I am currently running a sale on in-stock paperback copies for those who are local (or want to pay shipping). Here is more information.

If you are reading this after the sale ends or you are not local, you may always buy my books at these places. Please consider buying a copy to share with a new mom. Your gift could be the help she needs on the path towards healing.

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In honor of Maternal Mental Health Awareness Month, I am running a sale from today through Friday, May 31, 2024. In-stock paperback copies of my memoir, You are Not Alone: My Experience with Postpartum Depression, purchased directly from me are buy one, get one free. It’s a great way to get for gifts for moms in need or split the deal with another mom you know. The books are regularly priced $15 cash (tax included).

This sale will run through May 31, 2024, or while supplies last. If you are interested, contact me via my author email MichelleHabrych@gmail.com.

If you are not local but would like to pay for shipping to get this deal, please contact me and I will give you a quote on shipping cost.

My book is still available on Amazon in paperback and ebook formats, as well as on bookshop.org and at This Old Book in downtown Grayslake.

Thanks for your support.

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This event is open to all. Please invite anyone who may benefit from learning more about postpartum depression and its related illnesses.

Books will be available for purchase after the presentation.

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If you are interested in purchasing any of the Women’s History books or the postpartum depression and parenting resources I recommended, check out my lists here. This is an afficilate link. Thank you for your support.

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Before visiting, I knew little of what to expect inside. Immediately, we were greeted by friendly employees and an exhibit which explained the birth of professional American football. Men who represented ten football teams met in an automobile showroom on Sept. 17, 1920, in Canton. When they ran out of chairs, some of them sat on the running boards of Hupmobiles on display. Therefore, the first thing we encountered was a vehicle dubbed “Pro Football’s Most Significant Automobile” Not only am I a football fanatic, but I absolutely love history. The HOF combined both of these passions to provide a wonderful experience for this diehard Chicago Bears fan. The HOF exists to enshrine the best players, coaches, and personalities related to the sport, as well as preserve the history of the sport. The detailed signage on the displays let visitors know the significance of what is being viewed. Throughout the HOF are videos to provide even more background regarding the display. Original footage is used and gives the visitor a feeling of being there for the first time or reminiscing, as I did when I found myself exclaiming aloud, “I remember that!” after seeing a famous pass, run, or significant event on the video screen. 

Beginning with the Pre-NFL years (1892-1919), the walls of the first floor’s circular room displayed each decade’s fundamental and noteworthy events and personalities. Original players’ equipment has visitors mentally comparing it to today’s protective gear. Players’ contracts and tickets to games from 100 years ago give today’s fabs new insight into the early years of the sport. Displays spotlighted individual and team achievements that may otherwise be forgotten, such as this one: In 1929 player Ernie Nevers scored all 40 points against another team in a victory (Cardinals defeat Bears 40-6). That’s incredible!

As the timeline of the museum progresses, technology’s evolution is noted. The game could be enjoyed by fans in new ways. Radio broadcast the first national NFL game on Thanksgiving 1934. Then the first televised NFL game occurred in 1939 (mainly so the audience at the NYC World’s Fair could see it at the RCA Pavillion since most people did not own television sets!). 

Interesting papers from the early years gave insight into team culture. Players were expected to conduct themselves in a certain manner to be part of a team, which was spelled out in a letter on display from 1940: “The player is expected to conduct himself always like a gentleman and an athlete, and to keep in the best possible physical condition. We have no place for wastrels, dissipaters, or cheaters.”

Some aspects of the game which improved over the century that the game of football has been played surprised me. In 1892, scoring differed greatly from today’s game: four points for a touchdown, two points for point after attempt, five points for a field goal, and two points for a safety. Those values changed in the first decade of the 20th century, and scoring has remained consistent since 1994 when the two-point conversion option was added. Football’s size and shape has altered throughout the years. Seeing the original “pigskin” was interesting. Even the size of the football field was different. Originally a playing field measured 110 yards with a 55-yard-line, and there were no end zones because forward passes were illegal. How that rule change has transformed the game cannot be overstated!

The second floor of the circle featured many hands-on exhibits, quite literally. I really enjoyed being able to place my hand in the grip molded on a display of three different quarterbacks’ preferred placements. My husband went “under the hood” to watch some replay footage and see if he saw the calls the same way the referees did. He also compared his biceps to the wall of molded biceps from NFL players. I even tried on a set of protective pads.

Then we reached the HOF gallery, the room where the busts from all inductees into the Hall are displayed in order of induction since the opening in 1963. I paused and was slightly in awe of all of the men, which is just a small percentage of all of the players, coaches, owners, broadcasters, scouts, and referees involved in the NFL over the past century. There were 362 bronze busts in the room when we visited; nine more will be added next month when the 2023 class is inducted. I looked at each one of them, taking photos of the busts of the players who were significant to me, including one with my favorite player to watch: Brian Urlacher, class of 2018.

I asked the employee in the room how people are chosen for the HOF. Players, coaches, and contributors are eligible to be nominated by any fan after having been retired for at least five years. These eligible candidates then go to the HOF Selection Committee, which reviews the list and narrows it down four times before the final selection meeting. A finalist must receive 80% of the vote; the committee members represent each pro football city, with NYC and LA having two due to hosting two teams. There are also 17 “at-large” members who are involved in media or pro football, and one person represents the Pro Football Writers of America. Women and men, active and retired, are on the committee (the list of the current committee can be found here). This is to ensure it is not simply a popularity contest but that the honor is truly deserved by the person’s contribution to the sport.

Also with the busts in the HOF gallery, visitors are encouraged to use one of three large touch screen monitors to look up inductees by name, team, or year. Thirty-six players, coaches, and owners who were involved with the Chicago Bears at some point in their careers are in the HOF. I watched the short videos for each of the 36 men. It was especially interesting to learn about the early ones I had never seen play. I got pumped up as I watched members of the 1985 Super Bowl Championship Bears and truly enjoyed watching Urlacher sack quarterbacks, intercept balls, and even return a fumble 90+ yards for a touchdown (a franchise record). Also in the room was a very cool hologram of the HOF rings.

If all of that was not enough, there were a couple of theaters which featured movies or unique presentations. We went into the “locker room” where a hologram of Joe Namath told us about some of the unexpected players and moments in the game and related it back to life outside of the game. The multi-sensory presentation ends with holograms of legendary coaches Vince Lambeau (Green Bay Packers) and “Papa Bear” George Halas giving inspiring locker room speeches to their teams. This presentation, A Game for Life, was immersive and inspiring to me. Here is a trailer to give you an idea about it.

The fun didn’t stop there. There was an epic display on the history of the Super Bowl, where I was able to pose next to a Super Bowl trophy (a dream come true!) . The Black College Football Hall of Fame is featured alongside a temporary exhibit area (Sunday Night Football on TV when we visited). Some modern “artifacts” are featured in the Pro Football Today Gallery. Among my favorite items were the split jersey Donna Kelce wore to Super Bowl LVII in which her two sons competed against each other (an NFL first), Patrick Mahomes’ jersey from his recording-breaking game against Pittsburgh in 2018, and the shoes from Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust who made history as the first female coach to win a Super Bowl in 2021.

The visit left me speechless. As my husband and I drove to our next stop on our East Coast road trip, I thought about all that I had seen. I am grateful that I got to experience this history and celebrate the game I love.

If you ever go, there is a way to get a discount. The website Visit Canton offers a discount. I called the HOF before I went to confirm it was legit; it was. We saved $12 a ticket!

Miss football like I do? Preseason kicks off August 3 with the Jets vs. the Browns for the HOF game. The regular season opens with Detroit at Kansas City on Sept. 7. Go Bears!

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My best friend Krista passed away just over two years ago last month. She had melanoma, and it took her from this world too soon. I miss her so much sometimes I cannot breathe. But I also choose to allow myself to both grieve and remember all of the good times we shared over 20+ years of our friendship. 

To know Krista was to see joy in action. She did not have an easy life. She had many physical challenges over the years. Yes, she would get down, but she still made the decision to personify joy in her words and in her actions. She loved Jesus. Her convictions about her faith and how she chose to live it out often challenged me to reexamine my own. I never agreed with her on everything, but I respected her decisions.

Therefore, this August, in what would have been her 48th birthday month, I will read a book she loved with our book club, Steve & Me by Terri Irwin, chosen from her Goodreads profile. I will play games she favored, including a home version of Minute To Win It, which reminds me of her birthday party in which her guests attempted the challenges from the game show she loved. I will put together a puzzle that reminds me of her, something with bright colors because those are the ones she loved best. And I will look at the yellow flowers I purchased today in remembrance of her favorite color, and I will thank God for the friend I had the privilege to do life with for so many years.

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The Continental Congress appointed the Committee of Five to write up the sentiments of the colonists who were seeking independence from England and its king. Also on the committee were Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman. The men chose Jefferson to write up a draft, and they would provide feedback. The Library of Congress houses a copy of the original document with some of the changes suggested by Adams and Franklin. On July 1, 1776, the Congress met to discuss the Declaration. It was not until some alterations had been discussed and made that the Congress finally voted on July 4, 1776, to officially endorse the document.

Jefferson and Adams had been friendly, though they often disagreed on political matters. Things took a turn for the worse in their relationship in 1800 when the men campaigned against each other for the presidency for a second time. Previously, when Adams served as the United States’ second president, Jefferson won the position of vice president. This was before platforms ran together; the second place winner would simply be VP. Imagine all of the conflict between two leaders of two different political parties running the country! Jefferson undermined Adams throughout those four years, and the second election, filled with slanderous personal attacks by both sides, finally split the men apart after Jefferson’s victory. 

The men might have never spoken again if life circumstances –and others around them– had not intervened. In 1804 Jefferson’s daughter Polly died and Abigail Adams, John’s wife, sympathized with her old friend. She and Jefferson also had a relationship fractured by the ruthless campaign and its subsequent loss to Adams. Abigail wrote a letter expressing her sympathies and expected nothing further, signing it, “of her who once took pleasure in subscribing herself your friend.” Jefferson, for his part, could not simply accept the condolences with his return letter. He made jabs at Adams regarding things he had done in office before Jefferson’s inauguration. Abigail and Jefferson would trade a few more letters back and forth before, in 1811, their mutual friend Benjamin Rush encouraged a reconciliation between Adams and Jefferson. At the beginning of the next year, Adams wrote to Jefferson for the first time in over a decade. This olive branch served to spark a renewed correspondence and friendship for the two men which would last the rest of their lives.

Jefferson, age 83, passed away just after noon on July 4, 1826, in his home Monticello, in Virginia. Adams, also on his deathbed at age 90, reportedly told those around him, “Thomas Jefferson still survives,” when he died later the same day at his home at Peace field in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Above, Peace field, the Adams’ home for four generations

Last month I had the pleasure of visiting Quincy (read more here). I walked in the small house where my favorite Founding Father was born, stood in the nearby home where he contributed much to the early days of our country, and viewed the room where he spent his last hours. I visited the crypt under the church where he is entombed along with his wife, son, and daughter-in-law. Seeing the real places where things I’d only read about taking place made them come alive in a new way. Another special part of that visit was a John Adams reenactor who spoke to us from the time before the Declaration of Independence had even been conceived.  I am grateful for those who choose to preserve historical places and help them to come alive for visitors like me.

Thanks to Monticello.org, archives.gov, history.com, Library of Congress blog, and battlefields.org for refreshing my mind with the specifics for this post.

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What am I working on? Well, honestly, I do not have a specific topic. I have spent the last three days writing about topics as they came to mind. I have named my project “Just Write,” as I am trying to get back into the habit of daily writing. I find that it helps me to process ideas and practice writing again in a manner that is free from the pressure of trying to write “something.”

I have many ideas rolling around in my mind that I would love to write about, including Abigail Adams and the trip I just took. Is that what my next project will be? I don’t know yet, and I am learning to be okay with that.

I will just write, and it will all reveal itself to me eventually.

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Earlier this month I took a trip to visit the East Coast, including Boston and Quincy, towns in Massachusetts. John and Abigail Adams made their home in Braintree, which later renamed Quincy after Abigail’s grandfather. I am a big fan of this Founding pair, especially Abigail. Here are some thoughts I wrote after visiting the homes where they lived and died.

There is something special about visiting the homes where someone historically significant once lived. I have always been a fan of Abigail and John Adams, but when I finally had the chance to visit the homes where they lived and died, this famous pair became more than legendary: they came to life for me in a new way.

At the first home where they lived, I felt the presence of my heroine Abigail as she sat at the desk and wrote letters to her husband: the patriot, the delegate, the ambassador. Warmed by the fire in the hearth, missing her beloved as she conducted the business of the family farm, raised the children, served the revolution, and sold goods to bring in extra money, Abigail likely questioned the sacrifices she made. Yet, she knew her husband had her respect as a full partner and spouse. She believed in the cause that kept them apart for so many years of their marriage. And she loved him, evidenced in their numerous letters. 

As I stood in their second home, Peace field, I was again impressed with the way Abigail took charge of her family life. She desired a larger home for their family and the entertaining that would come with her husband’s position in the government, so she began the task of expanding the home she had admired even before it had become hers. 

I ran my hand along the railing she would have held onto as she descended the main staircase in the home. Then I stood mere feet away from the bed in which she breathed her final breaths. I marveled at the roses she planted in her garden, which continue to bloom to this day. These moments felt almost transcendent to me. 

The next day I toured the church their son John Quincy Adams had helped to get built after his parents passed away. He gave the congregation granite and funds his father had set aside to help them build a new house of worship. I sat in the Quincy pew where John Quincy and his family sat for services. I marveled at the words John wrote in memoriam of his parents after he paid for a family crypt to be built under the church for their remains to be entombed. Paying my respects to them, as well as John Quincy and his wife Louisa Catherine, was an experience I will not soon forget. 

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