Actually, This Isn’t Unprecedented
I confess that I, too, have been using the word “unprecedented” to describe our current condition during this COVID-19 pandemic. And in so many ways, the word seems to fit. But then I came across these lines in Bill Bryson’s book, Shakespeare: The World as Stage, “London’s theaters were officially ordered shut, and would remain...
Stuck in a Pandemic World
Well, I knew it might happen someday. People ask me all the time how I can come up with enough content for a weekly blog. Don’t I ever get stuck? Up until now, I’ve been able to smugly reply, “No, I never get stuck. I think that’s because when I started this blog, I didn’t...
A New Twist on the Golden Rule
This year of 2020 has certainly opened my eyes in more ways than I ever expected, and deconstructed so many things I thought were unshakeable truths. Even before COVID-19 locked us all in our homes, I heard something that completely upset the one rule I thought would always hold up to any scrutiny, the Golden...
The Only Wisdom that Works for Everyone
I’ve been listening to a series of interviews with legendary authors who were asked to share their life wisdom. I expected to be shaken to my core by their words of insight. After all, these are writers who have left us gasping at the beauty of their written words. Instead, I was shocked by how...
I’m Not Going to Write About Coronavirus Anymore (or any less)
I’m not going to write about the pandemic this week. I mean it. I’m not going to elaborate on how this crisis is affecting every area of our lives. We all know that. And I don’t believe it’s truly all there is to talk about these days. Things are re-opening now, so it makes...
Love Travels Any Distance – Even in a Pandemic
Today, I mailed a package to my daughter. She will soon be celebrating her first birthday since moving to New York City and she’ll spend it in isolation in her apartment. I also drove across town and dropped off a present for a friend who turned 79 today. I put the gift bag on the...
Seeing Clearly Through this Pandemic Fog
Some of us here in Colorado woke to a foot of snow this morning. I’m not going to say there isn’t a certain beauty to spring snow—even when it is laying tulips flat and snapping branches on budding trees—but I confess my first thought was, “Oh come on, Mother Nature, you heartless witch. Don’t you...
The Best Lessons Are Often the Hardest Lessons
I’ve always been the type of person who responds to bad news with a “this-is-not-happening” reaction. I get that distressing phone call, hang up, and return immediately to my e-mail or to making dinner or to whatever task I was doing before my world came crashing down. If the call is distressing enough, my denial...