Roberta Gately

Christmas.  Even the name carries a hint of magic as it twirls through my thoughts stirring up wonderfully evocative memories of enchanting, never to be forgotten moments.   I remember, as though it was yesterday, a snowy Christmas eve, my weary dad trying to shoo us to bed, his finger to his lips, whispering “Shh, can…

Thanksgiving – the purest of holidays, and my personal favorite for it is a day devoted to food, family, friends and gratitude.  It is a day too that reminds me of just how much I have in life – my family and friends, my health, my job, the release of my first book.  I am…

Nurses It’s been six weeks since I last blogged and, though I tried, I couldn’t think of a worthy blog topic.  My mind had been as empty as a politician’s promises.  That is – until yesterday – when I spoke at my nursing school alumni luncheon.  Suddenly, in a room filled with nurses – those…

Just a few short weeks ago, in the last full  throes of summer, I spent a week at the beach and found that all along the curving shoreline, people were hunched over books, lost in stories.  As a debut novelist (who had toted along my own supply of delicious reads), I was thrilled.   Everywhere I…

The murder of ten aid workers in Afghanistan this past week is a stark reminder that the region is fraught with risk for aid workers whose sole purpose in being there is to help, to make a difference in the lives and health of Afghans.  Aid workers have long relied on the fact of their…

How do we measure the value of a life?  Is it friendship?  Or perhaps the people one touched?  Is it the degree to which someone will be missed?  Is it all of those or none of those?  By any measure, the loss of my friend Kathy is devastating, a loss almost beyond words.  And even…

A blog? I have to write a blog? A blog?   I had to join Twitter (just the name makes me break out in hives) and Facebook (to quote George Clooney –  “…I’d rather have a prostate exam by a doctor with ice cold hands than join Facebook…” – alright, so not a prostate exam but…