My younger son, wise beyond his years, saw me striving to get a bunch of cards ready for the mail the other day. They weren’t the batch of New Year’s cards that we generally send — by late January. No, I was just scurrying to send out a handful of messages to about 1/100th of the people I’ve been missing, feeling the press of the clock, well aware of the deadline for getting them on their way on that particular … Read More
I haven’t seen one of them in a while, but didn’t there used to be bumper stickers that said something like, “I found The Way?” or maybe “Jesus Is The Way”? Well, about a week ago, in the dark, I was seriously looking for The Way, but not to Jesus — to home. My husband helped me, reinforcing my appreciation of marriage as an institution. If home is sometimes described as the place “where they have to take you in” … Read More
It was just plain irresponsible for me to pretend that I still had a blog during the past couple of months. But wait…it’s still here and so are you, I hope. School’s out now and, hot as it is outside, I feel as if I’m taking a cool swim even when I’m not. Relief washes over me– enough relief so that I can see one of the many Covid-19 contrasts coming clearly into focus. Rarely has there been a time … Read More
Way back when I started this blog, almost a decade (!?!?) ago, I shared a photo of a wall painted one color and a ceiling painted another, to illustrate my interest in side-by-side contrasts, the kind that draw in the eye or the spirit. Things that melt together, merge, have their own kind of charm; but things (or plants, or animals, or people) that retain their distinct qualities while attaining an often astonishing closeness have fascinated me ever since I … Read More
Smokey Robinson, that is. One of his songs has been cruising (not, not that one) through my mind during this end-of-August, not quite end-of-summer. Outside, there’s abundance just about everywhere… And when we’re fully enjoying the abundance, we might look something like this, particularly if we’re female and happen to find ourselves in a field of lavender. But a close neighbor to abundance is often the quality of too-much-ness. Or here’s the dreary basement version of gotta-cut-back…. Abundance brings a … Read More
“We were so glad to be invited!” the woman I’d just met told me. “When we moved in, I wasn’t sure if we’d be part of a neighborhood or not, since our house is on the main road.” I knew what she meant; five years ago, when we began settling onto this street that ends in a cul-de-sac, I hoped it held a promise of new and genuine connections, but I couldn’t be sure. The fact is, when you’ve ever … Read More
On Election Day tomorrow, as you walk into your polling station, you’ll no doubt walk past an array of signs held by smiling individuals—likely some even your neighbors– who are eager to take every last minute for purposes of persuasion. Here’s to the power of the democratic system – with opinions clashing like so many cymbals all around us — and may it work fairly in all corners of our land throughout the day, with all voices heard and perhaps … Read More
“Well, you’re golden with the Parking Division anyway!” Until this conclusion of my transaction with the cheerful woman with blond bangs behind the glass window about a year ago, I had never had cause to think of “golden” and “parking” (more specifically “parking tickets”) as having anything whatsoever to do with one another. She reminded me of it, though, when I had reason to return to that same window on a sweltering day, just after I’d turned down … Read More
With a flurry of new babies being born this spring, and at least one keeping his or her parents waiting past the due date, I’m hoping it’s not all that shameful to arrive late with a mere blog post. This one I dedicate wholeheartedly to my dog Rocky, who, on a daily basis, helps me to clarify my priorities. Specifically, I mean the age-old dilemma of what to run for, what to hold on to, what to deliver, what to … Read More
“We were both right!” The girl I mentor, who is now a whopping 14, said this jubilantly as she got in my car a couple of weeks ago, heading to her hip-hop dance class. I didn’t even know what she was referring to, but I loved what she said immediately. Turns out, I was right about the remaining cost of the 8th grade trip to Washington D.C. But, in a way, she was too, because a few days before … Read More