Dear Vail Voice Readers, I truly have enjoyed serving as editor of The Vail Voice. At this point in my life, I’ve felt the urge to move a bit differently; to go in a different direction and sing a different song. So, I’ve moved to Florida to resume my career as a law professor. It’s been a blast sharing my family memories and foibles with you...
By Shirley Mays Being a woman of a certain age, I grow nostalgic as I remember (what I can!) of my early days in school. I was born in Springfield, Ohio. My parents settled there when they left college after their sophomore year to get married. I am the second of three daughters, and my life as a middle child definitely had its ups and downs. When...
By Shirley Mays Summer is finally and solidly upon us! As an adolescent, growing up during the summer in an area known as “The Valley” in rural Ohio brought great pleasure to my friends and me. The Valley streets were paved with asphalt and we had no sidewalks; we rode our bikes and played barefoot in the streets. All of the streets were dead end...
By Shirley Mays “I will defend to my death your right to be wrong!” My dad often uttered this phrase to me during the course of my childhood. You see, my dad wasn’t the hugging, tell-me-he-loves-me kind of father. In fact, I can’t recall one time he said “I love you” to me. He definitely was old school in many ways. He opened my doors, believed I...
By Shirley Mays Similar to others, the month of May can be bittersweet for me. This is because one special day in May has significant meaning for me: Mothers’ Day. My mother passed away ten years ago (I cannot believe that it has been that long!). It’s not uncommon for me to hear a news story or an interesting tidbit and think, “I’ve got to call...
By Shirley Mays I have a confession to make about one of my guilty pleasures – I love Hallmark movies! Ordinarily, I am an extremely logical, reasonable, slightly obsessive and well-organized individual. But put me in front of a Hallmark movie and I lose myself in the Hallmark movie story. That story that invariably involves two people who don’t...
By Shirley Mays The word “civility” has several definitions: courteous behavior, politeness, the act of showing regard for others. Civility also has many synonyms: consideration, courtesy, good manners, graciousness, cordiality, gentility, pleasantry and propriety. Unfortunately, I feel we are living in times where if civility is not dead, it...
