Mary McManus's Page

I haven't watched Extreme Makeover Home Edition in a very long time. On Sunday evenings, my husband and I have a guilty pleasure of watching The Amazing Race. At a couple of minutes past 8, a dear friend of mine (who has an incredible story all her own as a childhood cancer survivor) called and told me to turn on Extreme Makeover - they were featuring a polio survivor.

I needed a box of tissues to watch the show. James Terpenning had polio as an infant in Vietnam. He was rescued by the Air Forc… Continue

Congratulations to the finishers of the New York City Marathon today including two of my cyber friends Pamela Robbins and Kevin Green. I watched the race throughout the day on line. I tracked the results for Kevin and Pamela; I remembered how my friends were concerned that they could not track me on line and that is the feeling I felt when I did not see results for Pamela after the 15 mile mark. Then my daughter suggested I click on next and also pointed out she could still be on the course and… Continue

On 9/7 a tweet from Lissa Rankin caught my eye. I clicked on the tweet link and felt this overwhelming urge to do as she suggested - write my obituary.


Mary (Alper) McManus died on 12/26/2053 the day after she celebrated her 100th birthday surrounded by her husband of 76 years, Tom, her twins Ruth Anne and Tom,Jr, her grandchildren, great grandchildren and adoring friends and fans of her poetry. She made her transition peacefully in her sleep.
Mary will best be remembered for her gentle, lovin… Continue

No yardsticks,no stopwatch, no ledgers can ever measure
Success
Touching a human heart
Sharing courage, faith, trust
Success
Being bold, taking a risk, stretching the soul
Success
Being vulnerable, being real, loving and being loved
Success
Passion, purpose, reaching for the stars
Success
Feeling freedom
Success
Setting ego aside
Success
Finding meaning in suffering
Success
Holding onto hope against all odds
Success
Feeling joy
Success
Feeling peace
Success
Knowing I am a Divine Child of God
SUC… Continue

On the invitation to Spaulding Rehab's fund raiser for the Weingarten Adaptive Sports Program, there is a photo of an ant windsurfing. I thought to myself, how odd that they use an ant. I think of ants as those pesky little creatures who run amok at a picnic. As emcee of the program, Kelly Tuthill of WCVB Channel 5 here in Boston talked about that little old ant in the song "High Hopes". In case you are not familiar with it, the lyrics are:

Next time your found, with your chin on the ground
The… Continue