Becky Flade, Author

Some years back, more than a decade of them in fact, I discovered a love for running. But I let it fall away and then I let myself put on a lot of weight. In January I started working out; after I’d lost a few pounds, and built up some stamina, I started running again. And convinced my two girls, Casey (24 years old) and Morgen (14), to do a 5k race with me at the Philadelphia Zoo. And then I set up about training for that race. My only goal? Cross the finish line before my girls! Things didn’t exactly go as planned. First of all, for the last weekend in April, it was unseasonably cold. Second, I got caught behind a incapacitated mini-van on the expressway literally within eyesight of the fricking zoo. Third, I had a large cup of coffee. Fourth, I forgot my damn earbuds. I need music when I run – the sound of my labored breathing is demoralizing and distracting. We line up, the three of us, shivering, and agree to meet at the finish line. The horn sounds and they dart out in...

Three major problems as I see it: 1) Phonics is no longer taught. First step to reading is to learn the alphabet. Second step is learning the different sounds the letters make and how those sounds change when letters are combined. Nearly forty years old, I still "sound out" a new word and I can because I was taught phonics. I use context clues to discern the meaning of a new word. God, I hope they're still teaching kids how to use context clues. And dictionaries. Of course in order for a dictionary to be helpful you have to be able to get at least close to the spelling of the word and guess how you learn that skill? Phonics. 2) Cursive is no longer taught. My daughter is in the sixth grade - middle school - and she's been in the MG program for a couple years now. The 400 page book she was supposed to spend the summer reading took her four days. And honestly she took her time with it. But if I don't print notes in block letters, she can't read it! W...

The Hubz tells me that he was on my blog and that I hadn't done any babbling lately. In fact, the only recent original content he found, not counting reviews of other books, contests or bloghops, obviously, was about my daughter, Casey's wedding. I decided to blog about my daughter turning 22 today; Then I thought of the man’s comments.   Instead of the planned big sappy post, I decided on a pictorial with music that's special to us.         This isn't just a picture of the unfortunate cast I had to wear - see Casey there by my thumb?       We went to Lowe's. We bought a steel rod that didn't fit in her car. And we took pictures. I rode the whole way home with the pole sticking out the sunroof. See the grey skies above Casey? When I shouted: Shit! I'm going to get struck by lightening! My best girl replied:   Let go when you feel the buzz.     ...

My oldest daughter was gravely ill as an infant, having contracted Pertussis (Whopping Cough) before she was old enough to receive the vaccine. She spent close to a month in the ICU and there were times the medical staff advised me that they didn’t expect her to survive the ordeal. But survive she did!   She was left with a variety of respiratory issues that meant we spent a lot of time in hospitals during her childhood. Although none were as terrifying as the first experience that she, thankfully, doesn’t remember, they all sucked. The only thing worse than a sick child in pain is a bored, unhappy, sick child in pain. I spent many hours creating ways to make my little girl smile. When I saw that Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (“CHOP”) had created a program for the delivery of a daisy with a personal message to their pediatric cancer patients, I jumped on the chance to cheer up one of these brave kids. Be a Hero - Send a Daisy! It’s free. It’s fast. But most of...