You’re embracing life if you sit down with a cup of tea, coffee (or a glass of wine) and stare out a window, remembering or imagining different versions of you that lit up your spirit or spilled joy into your heart. You’re incredible if you have been “in it alone,” whether parent or caregiver, but kept moving […]
Category Archives: Choices
Today is my grandson Ethan’s sixteenth birthday. It seems like it was just yesterday when he was born. I remember holding him in the NICU, praying for Sara, my daughter, and Ethan to be healthy (Thank You, God, they were.) Years have flown by. Ethan plays basketball and soccer, has wonderful friends, is intelligent, creative, witty, and […]
Hearts will be broken—and thankfully often mended—many times in one’s life. Human angels guide us until we stop and no longer need them once we pass through the veil to the other side (perhaps they hang out with us there, too!). Many of those broken hearts leave our planet much too early (for me). Awareness, […]
Sometimes, I feel like I’m in perpetual “Groundhog Day” (like the 1993 movie Bill Murray starred in). Each set of twenty-four hours seems like a repetition of the one before—learned patterns, a sense of life impotence, the same mundanity or routine. Yet, lying in bed this morning at 6:00, awoken by a jarring alarm, I […]
Apprehension. Unease. Doubt. Anxieties many people I know experience, just as I do. How do we handle angst or process the restless feeling that, for many, often permeates day-to-day life? Years ago, my friend Jill said to me, “We want to know what’s going on in our world, but what we read or hear frightens us, we […]
Awareness and acknowledgment may seem inconsequential, but, in reality, they make a significant difference in our planet’s energy. I’ve always been mindful of sharing what I think if it’s something positive and will walk up to perfect strangers and compliment their hair or outfit or the cuteness of their child and never once has it not elicited a […]
Expectations speak to desired outcomes like: trust, belief, safety, possibility, anticipation or, looking forward. They’re sometimes an assumption, but often they’re deeply rooted longings bolstered by the faith that something petitioned for or desperately needed will come to fruition. What are your great expectations? I asked myself, “what do I desire to create or achieve with this year that’s […]
Yesterday, I ran a few errands, then did some final decorating— stringing the Christmas cards we received from friends so I could hang them across the doors. After all, if we’re blessed to receive these greetings of love, shouldn’t we somehow acknowledge them? Too often, I forget what really matters, caught up in the secular […]
This morning, I woke up again with a mental Christmas “still to-do list” that rivals most of those I make. I backed out of the garage and headed down the cul-de-sac, turning left onto St. Peter’s Road. As I round the corner, I again see “The Bicycle Tree.” This isn’t a tiny faux tree adorned […]
A few weeks ago, I unpacked Christmas. In the boxes were fragile glass ornaments, precious works of art with”best Nana ever,” and the little drummer boys my daughters, Sara and Erin, made with their grandmother more than thirty years ago. There were gifts from friends and heartfelt pieces my Mom gave me. Some are decades […]
Life’s fragility—much too fleeting or painstakingly stagnant, joyfully overflowing or devastatingly lonely—plays out in this space between human life and death. Sometimes, lines have been rehearsed for decades; often, we’re caught off guard, blindsided by the swiftness of change that was never expected or invited. We can be like shooting stars—tiny specs of dust glowing […]
The human brain is only three pounds but has a trillion cells and a rapidly firing hundred billion neurons. Our cerebrum’s options are practically limitless, yet we humans often get caught up in minuscule life routines, forgetting to see other pictures of life different from our norms or what’s right in front of us. Reflecting on life this […]
The pear tree I planted almost two decades ago is heavy with fruit. Most years, I don’t thin it out as I should, and when I walked outside this morning, I noticed the tree branches weighted down, scattered cores from the deer that feast each night at her base. A peach tree planted the same […]
Part I I woke up this beautiful summer morning from a bad dream; thankfully, not a full-blown nightmare which I have too often. These sleep-state images were about being in a terrible accident and waking up paralyzed, my ability forever at the mercy of a wheelchair; my life abruptly halted. In the dream, I was […]
A few years ago, as I sat writing at my desk before the sun rose, I inaudibly heard “look up” and saw that sections of the library’s cathedral ceiling were, falling! My first step was emptying the room. Art, photos, gifts, precious mementos from my daughters and grandchildren, and hundreds of books (yep, I counted […]
This morning—at 5:13 in our Northern Hemisphere—marked the summer solstice, one of my favorite days because it marks the day with the longest organic luminosity. (Summer is also my favorite season.) As I think about this light, I am aware of all the darkness on our planet—this celestial body rotating on its axis, orbiting around […]
Headlines, primarily negative, race across my screen as I start today’s post on “Change.” It seems—more than ever—that our world is truly broken. (Perhaps it’s just me.) Change is burdensome for many humans. Pre COVID-19, it seemed as if many of us were somewhat complacent, buoyed by what we considered the rhythm of our blessed […]
One beautiful morning, I turned onto a recently repaved, free of debris road without potholes typical of many thoroughfares with scorching and freezing weather. It was a peaceful drive made better by the smoothness of the street. (It’s often the little things that make us smile.) Significant issues must be remediated before laying new asphalt, creating a pothole, ruts, […]
Texas’ name is derived from “thecas,” which means friends and allies. In that state, a town named Uvalde—the “Honey Capital of the World”—is in mourning. Many of us cry with her in grief and sorrow. This place that now, and perhaps for many decades to come, will not feel safety or the sweetness of honey. […]
N.b.: The topic of this post is weighty, spurred on by the massacre in Buffalo, New York, on Saturday. I understand if this is too sensitive for you to read, and respect that your perspective may be different from mine. “Death is part of life.” Five syllables that seem elementary when part of a big-picture conversation […]
Chapter IOnce upon a time, there was a baby, not planned but wanted, loved, and nurtured. She was cared for with tenderness and affection and knew not fear, concern, or worry. She explored her world with natural curiosity and would recollect seeing a shiny doorknob as her first retained visual memory. Chapter IIExposed to people […]
“Tomorrow comes into us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and puts itself in our hands. It hopes we learned something from yesterday.” Marion Robert Morrison (John Wayne) “Tomorrow, I’ll take better care of myself.” “Tomorrow, I’ll make smarter choices.” “Tomorrow, I’ll get enough sleep.” “Tomorrow, I’ll pursue healthier relationships.” “Tomorrow, I’ll work […]
Recently, I came across one of my granddaughter’s old books, titled “Inside Out.” It reminded me that we employ different inside and outside voices (and faces) depending on where we are or who we’re with. Often, we’re completely immersed in our material realities, not observing ourselves from the inside out. Sometimes we don’t even acknowledge the parts […]
There is joy, and there is woe (bliss and suffering can dance on the same stage), and we humans react to those opposites in many different ways. Of course, happiness is subjective, but when we choose it, we are actively creating inner peace, moving forward into authenticity and self-worth awareness. (Even a magic wand won’t automatically make […]
Yesterday morning, birds patiently took turns at the feeder. Signs of Spring sprouted up through the snow-covered ground, reaching for the sun. I experienced feeling “happy” as I watched them. Unlike dessert or a perfectly aged cabernet, happiness is life-giving water needed for optimal survival. But, for many, bliss seems unattainable. Perhaps you think, “How dare I […]
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