In the past year, I’ve had seven diagnostic tests (three routine), three blood tests, and my first dental filling. I’ve gone from one prescription to four, and I’ve changed vitamins, diet, and supplements so many times, I’ve lost track. All of this led to my first ever bout with anxiety. I feel like I’ve made...
It’s awfully quiet around here. Oh, there’s the noise of a mini bulldozer moving dirt at the neighbor’s house and a ridiculously loud motorcycle going by and a dog barking down the street. There’s the hum of the microwave running as my husband reheats his coffee and the dryer tumbling. I can create more sound...
The other day, I invited two poets, Veronica Patterson and Lisa Zimmerman, to speak to one of my writing groups. They talked about how poetry predates written language and how it’s in all of us. They pointed out that little kids speak naturally in metaphor. For example, when you ask them how something felt, they...
Today is Veterans Day. Before it was Veterans Day, it was more commonly known as Armistice Day, a holiday set aside to commemorate the cessation of fighting during World War 1. The armistice was signed during the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. It’s also called Remembrance Day in...
Today I’m grateful for the artists. The writers, poets, singers, musicians, dancers, actors, filmmakers, photographers, painters, sculptors, potters, weavers, architects, and craftsmen whose art is the axis on which this world turns. Without artists, we would have no understanding of cultures long gone. It is their pottery, cave paintings, and temples which we study to...
I love people who laugh at their own jokes. The harder they laugh, the better. Why shouldn’t we take enjoyment from our own creativity? Why create anything if it doesn’t bring us pleasure? I love people who sing loudly and badly in church. Why? Because they are more concerned with giving praise than they are...