Live in your hands and your mind will learn to bow like a root. – Mark Nepo In his devotional called Live in Your Hands (Nepo), the author describes the difference in living too much in your head and not enough in the real life activity of living. He tells a short story about a man who, so distraught after[…]
On Relationship…
A simple tree by the roadside stands…
On Kittens, Anxiety, and My Relationship with Anne…
I love the author Anne Lamott. There, I said it. I do. We have not met. She does not know I love her but love her I do. She’s my writer crush, the soul mate I’ve never met. Many of us go through life with a person in mind that, should we end up single at a target age, we[…]
On My Birthday…
Today is my birthday. I’ve been dreading this one, but no more than the last one. I am closer now to 60 than ever before. I sometimes worry that I’m running out of time. Is that something other people worry about? The picture here is me at 2 months old (according to my mother’s lovely script on the back). This[…]
On the Windmills
There is something I’ve been wanting to say since the winter blast that hit the country in early February. Particularly hard hit were the southern states not used to such cold temperatures in the negative numbers. One of the biggest problems was the strain put on the power grids of Oklahoma and Texas, because neither state was prepared for it.[…]
On Finding the Word …
For months I’ve been trying to find the word that describes what I’m feeling inside these past 12 months. Is it fear? Is it dread? Is it anger? Yes, it is all of these things, but while those words are part of it, they don’t quite satisfy my need to find just the right word. Labeling things helps me keep[…]
On the Path to Peace…
I’ve heard the phrase “protect your peace” tossed around in self-development circles. It sounds good, but protecting my peace makes it seem like I have it hidden away somewhere, behind lock and key, where no one can get to it. That’s no way to live. I consider myself a nice person. I hold doors for people. I say, “thank[…]
On Christmas Traditions.
I am being haunted by traditions today. Christmas Eve 2020 is not like any other Christmas Eve. Normally, I would be rushing to finish up my work so I could join my family for our traditional Christmas Eve celebration. My siblings and I, together with our families and loved ones, would gather together at Mom and Daddy’s house. We’d give[…]
On Compassion…
Compassion seems to be in short supply right now. Maybe it is lost in shipping with the protein powder I ordered a few weeks ago, or out of print like the book of essays I tried to send to a friend. Maybe it is just out of fashion, like bell bottom jeans. I do not know. But, of all the[…]
On Fog
This year has certainly been one for the books. We find ourselves inside a real-life science fiction movie. We are in a global pandemic that everyone assumed would be over by April, May at the latest. But Halloween was a bust, Thanksgiving was via FaceTime, and now, a few weeks until Christmas, there is no end in sight. Everyone has[…]