Don’t Blink: Aging is a heartfelt and deeply personal collection of reflections about growing older, loving deeply, losing people, surviving hard seasons, and learning what truly matters in life. Written in an honest and conversational voice, Laura Thompson Kiefert explores topics like family, marriage, friendship, grief, fear, chronic pain, loneliness, gratitude, resilience, and the emotional…
I’m not asking for a yacht. I’d like groceries, paid bills, a flight to see family, and a little money left afterward. Here’s my sarcastic take on affordability—and why ordinary life shouldn’t require extraordinary sacrifice.
I thought political campaigns had already scraped the bottom of the barrel. Then came the ad against Amy Acton. From exploiting childhood trauma to twisting records and using a grieving family’s tragedy, I look at how low campaign tactics have sunk—and what it says about us when we excuse them.
Billionaire campaign money, reproductive freedom, and control of Wisconsin’s government are all part of the 2026 fight. I’m looking at what’s at stake, who stands to gain, and why I refuse to sit quietly while decisions about our future are made.
I’m pleased to announce that Don’t Blink: Reflections is available on Amazon. Some of the moments that shape us happen quietly: a friendship that lasts, a person we never stop missing, a family memory, or something ordinary that suddenly makes us laugh. In this collection, I write about love, loss, marriage, friendship, and the people…
I’m pleased to announce that Don’t Blink: Politics is available on Amazon. How did our conversations become so careful—and our divisions so deep? In this collection, I take an honest look at fear, outrage, misinformation, fairness, and the values behind our political choices. I write as a progressive, with questions, strong opinions, and a stubborn…
People often ask me what I can see. The truth is, that’s the wrong question. The real story isn’t about blindness. It’s about watching your world slowly become smaller, losing little pieces of your independence every year, and learning to live with losses that most people never even think about. For more than twenty years,…
A humorous reflection on modern prices, sticker shock, and the moment you realize two small ice cream sundaes somehow became a financial event. I have officially reached the stage of life where restaurant prices personally offend me. Not mildly surprise me. Not disappoint me. Offend me. I just celebrated my seventy-first birthday, which happened to…
A Mother’s Day reflection about love, expectations, distance, regret, and the painful realization that motherhood changes as children grow older and build lives of their own. Mother’s Day always makes me reflective. This morning I woke up thinking about my mother and the complicated relationship we had. I never doubted that she loved me, but…
Tipping makes more sense when you’ve lived it. This is about what that work is really like, what we expect today, and what might change next. I’ve always thought there are a few jobs everyone should have to do at least once, and waiting tables is at the top of that list. I started my…
Some things get twisted beyond recognition. “86” is one of them. It’s simple. It always has been. Every time I think things can’t get any weirder, they do. Like Donald Trump claiming that “8647” was some kind of threat against him. It’s a perfect example of how something simple gets twisted into something it was…
Suicide leaves behind more than grief. It leaves questions, silence, and a deep need to understand something we often can’t see. This piece reflects on the importance of compassion over judgment—and the quiet truth that we never fully know what someone else is carrying. Death is hard. There’s no way around it. But death by…
There’s a quiet belief I carry. If everything is in order, maybe the worst won’t happen. It may not make sense, but it feels real. I have this superstition I don’t talk about much, mostly because I know it doesn’t make complete sense. But it’s there, and if I’m being honest, it probably shapes more…
When does criticism become a “threat”? And who gets to decide? This blog takes a hard look at how outrage is applied—and how quickly the definition of danger can shift depending on who’s talking. From late-night jokes to a photo of seashells, it raises a simple question: are we protecting safety, or just protecting narratives?…
I spent years wishing I could be her. Then one day, she stopped aging—and I didn’t. This is what it means to carry someone with you through a lifetime they never got to live. I met Mary in seventh grade, back when everything felt big and important and permanent. She was the kind of girl…
You can’t watch TV for ten minutes without being asked to save a child, feed an animal, or rescue something in crisis. The cause may be real, but the marketing? It leans hard on guilt. At some point, you have to ask if compassion is being inspired… or manipulated. Let me say this upfront. The…
A simple, honest reminder that the way we used to live still matters. This piece looks back at a time when people showed up for each other without hesitation and challenges us to bring that spirit back. It’s about connection, compassion, and choosing to lift people up instead of tearing them down because life moves…
Your phone rings. It looks like your bank. The voice sounds official. The message feels urgent. And just like that, the trap is set. Scammers have turned caller ID, email, and text messages into weapons—and they’re getting very good at it. My phone has basically turned into a scam delivery system. Calls. Texts. Emails. All…
Getting older is a one-way street. The young think they understand life because they’ve lived a little. The truth is, we’ve lived all of it. Here’s my take on the gap between what we remember and what they can’t yet see. There’s something I’ve noticed more and more the older I get. Young people think…
We all agree on one simple rule: if you work, you get paid. So how did we end up with TSA agents working without pay while passengers stand in lines for hours? I keep coming back to the same question. How did we get here? How did something this basic get so messed up? If…
