Writer, Speaker, Editor, Blogger
Thus far, this has been a year of overlapping seasons. Winter never fully took hold before warm temperatures encouraged a premature spring. The colors of fall hung on amid the budding trees and greening grass. Then, winter returned, with temperatures below freezing. At times, we experience overlapping life seasons. We hardly complete the handling of […]
Last weekend, I taught at a writing conference. Each time I teach at a conference, I become increasingly aware that our lives weave a story. Some lives are stories of abuse, neglect, betrayal, and struggle. Other lives involve miracles, healing, and thankfulness. Life stories are powerful. Your personal story is unique and multifaceted. Each life […]
Music has always been an important part of my life. Some of my earliest memories are of sitting on the glider, between my aunts, my mother’s sisters, on the front porch of my grandparents’ house on Cornell Street. On summer evenings, the porch was a place to escape the heat of the unairconditioned house. Invariably, […]
Looking through possessions, pictures, and letters at my aunt’s house stirred so many memories and turned my thoughts to my ancestors and various types of life roots. Maybe signs of an early spring played into my pondering of roots. Or perhaps walking the yard with a landscaper and seeing trees that have anchored themselves deeply […]
Have you noticed the old becoming new? Tie-dye shirts, bell-bottomed pants, hobo bags, platform shoes, short tops replacing long, and grandchildren flashing peace signs send me spiraling back to high school days. Everything old and unstylish is suddenly new and modern. But isn’t it that way with life? What was abandoned finds new purpose. That […]
This week marks another step forward in closing an important chapter in my life. The remaining furniture and other items in my aunt’s house were removed for donation. I haven’t been back to the house to see it empty because I know it will be hard emotionally. I also know it is a necessary step. […]
Life events pass by quickly and we don’t always have opportunity for reflection. Often, we are so task-oriented we don’t allow ourselves time to ruminate on meaning, emotions, and impact. This has been the case for me regarding our trip to Israel. Our schedule was relentless. Then, when we returned, I hit the ground running. […]
Both of my parents loved photography. During World War II, following the departure of all the male photographers, my mother became the photographer for the local newspaper. She was on call 24/7 and learned a lot about telling a story through pictures. My father also enjoyed photography and owned a variety of cameras, including movie […]
On our trip to Israel, we saw lots of walls—torn down walls, damaged walls, still-intact walls, rebuilt walls, walls to keep in, walls to keep out, and sacred walls. As I scan through all my pictures, and see various walls, I think about the walls we erect in our lives. Following are some thoughts: Protective […]
We saw and learned so much on our trip to Israel, it’s hard to absorb it all. But one custom that grabbed my attention was that of collecting tears in bottles, jars, and cups. As I stood beside the display of tear jars and bottles, I couldn’t help thinking of all the tears that have […]