SERIOUS HEALTH EVENTS: THE TRUTH IS, NONE OF US wants to think about what we would do if faced with a serious health event for ourselves or a loved one. And while great medical care is first and foremost on everyone’s minds, community and connections to friends and family can have a greater impact on health than our society likes to admit.

Enter CaringBridge, a 24/7 online experience — calling it a website doesn’t quite get it — that allows friends and family to come together to support patients and caregivers during a challenging time. I learned about CaringBridge several years ago when my son’s friend was very sick, with repeated hospitalizations.

The child’s mom started a CaringBridge site. Within days, everyone on her email list received an invitation to join the site. Within a week, family and friends from across the country — and the world — were posting messages, wishes, memories, photos and artwork. Almost instantly a loving community was created that enveloped the family. I had never seen or witnessed anything like it. It was social media at its best, supporting those who need it most.

Since then, whenever I hear of someone having a serious illness or surgery, I always send a link. CaringBridge now also has an iPhone app and you can check out their FaceBook page.

TRAVELING ON AN AIRPLANE WITH YOUNG KIDS (especially from infant to age 6) can be a tough predicament. You are at the mercy of airport crowds, long security lines and plane delays. You are at the mercy of the mood of your child and the patience of your fellow passengers. And don’t feel too bad when they shoot you mean glares if your child is crying. That is a parenting rite of passage.

SOURCE: iSTOCKPHOTO.COM

That said, here are five things to bring in your carry-on bag (aka Bag of Tricks) to make every plane journey more comfortable for your kids (which, in turn, means more comfort for you). We know some airlines are now charging for carry-ons, but it’s worth every penny when you consider all the distractions you can load in it.

A bottle of water. This sounds like a no-brainer, but with the security restrictions on liquids, it’s hard to do (especially when you want to avoid buying expensive bottled water in the terminal). Bring an empty water bottle from home and fill it up at a water fountain. It’s not fun to wait for the flight attendants to bring their out their cart.

Snacks. Bring more than you think you’ll need. Prepare in individual snack bags so they are easy to access and you can take home and reuse.

A pillow case. Bring your own case (spritzed with lavender water) and fill with your jacket or sweater to make a cozy pillow for napping.

A new toy. Pack a reasonable stash of small toys and books, and make there’s something new. Unveil it when your child has lost interest in everything else.

An iPod or portable DVD player. Doesn’t matter if you don’t normally allow much screen time — now is the time break some rules.

PEOPLE LINE UP TO GET THEIR “DOROTHY FIX” of wisdom and optimism. Catching my friend Dorothy Eaves, 96, in between her travels, I asked this California adventurer, great-grandmother, former school owner and Girl Scout leader to share how she keeps her sunny outlook.

Dorothy:  I take no credit for it. The good fairy gave me an optimistic disposition when I was born.

Sherry: Does knowing you’re optimistic help you face challenges?

D:  I think it’s important that I’m not afraid of change. Life is going to be different and you’re going to have to make choices. We all have things that you wring your hands and say, “Please, take this burden away, it’s more than I can cope with.” But you can cope and then somehow it goes away.

S:  You always say nice things about people. Is that a choice?

D:  I like people. I like people who are different. I want to know about them. If I see someone new, I introduce myself. If they don’t like me, well, I’ll go find somebody else.

S:  You read recently about five commonalities of people over 85 who live well. What are they?

D: They all drank coffee — I liked that one. None smoked. They were within some sort of normal weight but they could be pretty chubby, fortunately. They liked people and they belonged to a community. Wherever I’ve gone, I found community. It’s important not to be isolated.

S: Your Episcopalian church friends took you to a biker bar for your 95^th and 96^th birthdays. Could martinis be the secret?

D: Occasional martinis; coffee and wine every day. Obviously, that isn’t going to shorten my life.

S: Next big trip?

D: Mexico in October. There are many more adventures out there and I want to go.

IS THERE ANY BENEFIT from all the time spent playing video games these days? Stress reduction? A sweat-free endorphin rush? The illusion of accomplishment?

What if it wasn’t an illusion? What if playing video games could help solve world hunger, poverty, climate change and global conflict?

Games developer and researcher Jane McGonigal argued just that at this year’s TED Conference. Rather than fueling guilt for the 3 billion hours a week people play online games (not to mention the offline ones!), McGonigal said we should aim to increase that to 21 billion, expanding the skills learned in such games so we can apply them to the real world’s big problems.

Playing online games makes us good at four things, McGonigal said:

• Maintaining a feeling of urgent optimism: We’re game to tackle an obstacle because we believe there’s a reasonable chance of success.
• Weaving tight social relationships: We like and trust folks more when we play games with them.
• Feeling blissful in productivity: We’re happier when we work hard (even in the virtual world) and get things done.
• Aiming for epic meaning: We believe we can change the world because we have super powers and take on awe-inspiring missions.

McGonigal has created three games so far as examples:

• World Without Oil simulated the first 32 weeks of a global oil crisis.
• SuperStruct invited players to chronicle the world in the year 2019, and imagine how to solve the problems we’ll face.
• Evoke, launched this spring, is a social-network game that aims to empower young people all over the world, especially in Africa, to come up with creative solutions to our most urgent social problems.

I’m not quite sure how the Bejeweled game on my iPhone fits in there, but I’m hoping for the best.

I STOPPED COUNTING AFTER 5,040: Fitness-related applications for the iPhone, that is. Wait, aren’t computers supposed to count such things for us?

© FITNESSKEEPER Inc.

Anyhow, the next and certainly not final frontier in exercise entrepreneurship seems to be software for smart phones that somehow helps with our workouts. You can track exercise sessions and duration, calculate calories burned, log calories consumed, read exercise descriptions, watch demonstration videos, even go through guided sessions for inspiration or relaxation.

Some concepts are simple: Hundred Pushups ($1.99) helps you follow a six-week plan to be able to do 100 consecutive push-ups. (There’s also Two Hundred Situps ($1.99) and, soon, Twenty-five Pullups.)

Others are more comprehensive and can be a little scary: The RunKeeper (free for basic version, $9.99 for pro) uses the GPS capabilities in a 3G iPhone to track your pace, elevation, duration, calories burned and actual distance traveled — and traces your actual path on a map. Very cool. But wait, that wasn’t really me ducking into Mrs. See’s after that workout…

And some fall into a familiar trap: The SixPack App Pro ($.99), for example, nicely shows a range of exercises for the abdominal muscles, but as everyone who’s fallen for an infomercial ab machine knows, a six pack is visible only if one also gets rid of the layer of fat that covers most bellies.

Smart-phone exercise apps do indeed hold the promise of making exercise easier. And, yes, tracking exercise better. But still there remains the age-old problem: Actually doing it.

BUYING A NEW COMPUTER CAN BE PARALYZING: So many variables, so many dealers, so many sales. And yet not enough clarity about what fits your needs now, not to mention what might come in handy down the road.

Of course you can find many online guides to buying a desktop or laptop; simply search for “computer buying guide” to become familiar with the main components in play.

Having recently replaced all three of our home computers, I found that a few other factors also helped get me to make the leap and click “Buy”:

• Don’t wait until you understand everything. That is likely to never happen.
• See what discounts you can get by starting to shop at a rebate, credit-card or membership site.
• Build around a component that’s key for you: Storage, for example, if you have tons of photos and videos. Or the quality of the video card, if you’ll be doing gaming or video editing.
• Get a configuration built and priced online at one dealer. Then call another dealer and ask if they can beat that price for that configuration. Or, as often happens, offer better components for a comparable price.
• Once you have model numbers for parts, Google them to look for reviews or common problems.
• Get the at-home, next-day service warranty. If you use your computer for work, this is essential to reduce downtime in case of problems.
• Remember that whatever you choose, you’ll probably spend more time using its features than lamenting ones it lacks.

Unfortunately, once you’ve clicked buy, another potential paralyzing moment looms: Computer setup. But don’t worry; there are sites for that, too.

I AM A RELUCTANT SOCIAL NETWORKER. I was an early adopter of LinkedIn back in the day when LinkedIn was a tool for job-seekers and business networkers. It had structure, boundaries and privacy. There wasn’t much “social” about it until people started using it more sociably. If I had to engage in social networking, LinkedIn was my comfort zone.

Facebook was another matter. I resisted it wholeheartedly and enthusiastically. Nudged gently (!?) along by friends and colleagues, I was gradually coaxed into reconsidering. At first I was tentative, like a 5-year-old learning to ride a bike with the training wheels on and oh, by the way, not interested in taking them off any time soon. While my comfort zone with Facebook has increased, I am still not (and will probably never be) the power-user my 15-year-old is. Puleaase.

Truth be told, I have come to like Facebook: Staying connected and reconnecting with friends and family around the world. “Fanning” pages and groups. Sharing causes and events that are important to me. And imagine my surprise when, at a party recently, an old friend—with whom I was not yet “friends” on Facebook—told me over cocktails that she is a fan of our Lifestyle Insights blog.

Lately, however, I’ve noticed that LinkedIn is becoming more Facebook-like, with expanding social networking features. People are updating their status multiple times a day, joining groups and using applications. Facebook, on the other hand, is adopting some of the structure and boundaries that initially made me more comfortable on LinkedIn. And more and more businesses are using Facebook to connect with users and customers.

Stay tuned… er, I mean, signed in.

JUST WHEN YOU THINK YOUR TWEEN HAS LEARNED the art of good manners — whether it’s keeping elbows off the dinner table or courteously addressing adults — there comes yet another form of etiquette that needs to be conquered.

© iSTOCKPHOTO.COM

Call it Textiquette: the art of texting without being rude to those around you.

Since recently becoming a 3-out-of– person texting family (Santa surprised our 10-year-old daughter with a cell phone!), we now communicate via texting more than ever before.

At this age, our daughter has only a few contacts, and most are family members. So while we don’t yet worry about whom she is communicating with, we already see how texting could become a distraction.

Textiquette is like any other learned behavior, so we figure it’s best to establish rules from the beginning so we don’t have to change habits later.

There are a handful of no-brainer basic rules that every tween, teen and even adults should follow:

• Never text while driving (or doing any activity that requires your full attention, like riding a bike or skateboarding).
• Never text where it’s not allowed — in class, in church or synagogue, or in other obvious public settings.
• And never, ever text inappropriate pictures or messages.

In teaching our daughter when it is — and when it’s not — appropriate to text, we’ve realized that many adults (ourselves, included) could stand to brush up on their Textiquette. Consider:

Keep text messages short and to the point. If it lasts longer than a few minutes, use your phone for a real conversation.

Don’t text another person when you are in the company of someone else. It’s just rude.  If you must take the text, politely excuse yourself from the room.

Don’t use texting as a forum to gossip or say mean things about other people. Tweens should understand how texting can impact others — and how they are ultimately responsible for what they text.

IN THAT NEVER-ENDING CHALLENGE to be a more efficient wife/mom/chef/chauffeur, there’s nothing like the iPhone to help make every day go smoother.  These are four of our most fave iPhone apps that make managing family life a little easier and a lot more fun!

SOURCE: APPLE.COM

4 Ingredients

Who it’s for: The working mom who is driving home wondering what to make for dinner.

How it works: Pick a specific ingredient (i.e., Beef) or a Food category (Dinner) and then choose from a plethora of 4-ingredient recipes, which come from the Australian cookbook of the same name.

Cost: $3.99

ShopALot

Who it’s for: The family member who does all the grocery shopping, week after week.

How it works: This app lets you do everything from create grocery lists and see nutritional info to compare pricing of products and see images of products so you can find them easily on the shelf.

Cost: $1.99

Proxido

Who it’s for: The errand-runner/family chauffeur

How it works: Enter your Tasks and To-Do lists and this app will read your GPS coordinates and remind you what you need to do in the vicinity of where you are.

Cost: $.99

Time Out

Who it’s for: Naughty little ones who need to be punished when you’re out and about.

How it works: Kids acting up at a restaurant or in the car?  This app is a timer for tracking Time Outs. Just enter (up to 4) kids’ names and the amount of time they have to serve. An alarm goes off when the time is up.

Cost: Free

MY FRIEND CAROLYN SAID IT IS LIKE BIRTHING A BABY. Standing by the huge Thai-style Anagama wood-fired kiln that her husband Jim Stout built on Lopez Island in Washington State, we were helping with Jim’s annual kiln firing, which has become a community happening.

© JIM STOUT

The huge kiln even has a shape reminiscent of a pregnant woman. Made of bricks and steel and stucco, it takes on a life of its own as the temperature starts to rise. Expanding as the heat rises, bellowing smoke out the chimney, quieting as the hot ashes settle on the works of clay inside, we cycle with the kiln through its process over an intense 48 hours.

The process is earthy and physical, like childbirth. And like childbirth it has an organic momentum, and no two firings are exactly the same, even in the same kiln. Different types of wood. Different weather. What’s the temperature? More wood. Less wood. Morning shift. Afternoon. Evening under the stars. Making it through those dreaded-yet-peaceful graveyard shifts.

There is something primal about the fire, the heat, the way we gather around it. Forging physical changes to the clay inside and fusing we humans closer to each other and to the earth. Its pull irresistible. From raw clay, human creativity, fuel and heat: something new.

Somewhere along the line, in all our modernity and innovation, it feels like we’ve lost touch with where things come from. How we make things. But experiencing the firing provides a visceral connection to how things are made. It’s a primal human need. Like heat. Like fire. Like birth.