We all have our weaknesses, and most of us know what they are. We also have our strengths, and those are what we need to focus on sharing. Sitting in the backyard with my friend we saw a rabbit. It was doing what rabbits spend a lot of time doing — sitting very still and… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Trying hard
Smells like home spirit
There is no place like home, and no smell as inviting and soothing as a home-cooked meal. My great fortune is having a Mom who shows love through her cooking, and she loves us a lot! This past weekend my wonderfully extended family made the drive to visit my Mom and Dad — an experience… Continue Reading
Someone that someone cares about
As people discovered with the Six Degrees of Separation, we are all connected in surprisingly few steps. While walking in the mall, driving down the road, or having lunch, we are near to people that someone close to us knows and cares about. It is an illusion that our days are filled with true strangers… Continue Reading
Maybe Smarties maybe balloons
Things that look alike can turn out to be very different as we get closer to them, and get to know them. I have always been a fan of Smarties, the colorful candy-coated chocolate treats (Wikipedia). Round but also flat, small but easy to grab — they are fun to eat and easy to share. … Continue Reading
Celebrating endless love
Today we celebrated the truly endless love of family and friendships — the love that each of us can be part of. I had the honor of helping to celebrate the life of my daughter-in-law’s grandfather. Bruce lived to be 91, and he and Ida had been married for 70 years. That is a long… Continue Reading
The wind beneath wasp wings
While having lunch outdoors yesterday my friend and I were visited by two wasps. The wasps in our area rarely sting you if you let them be, but “letting them be” usually involves them hovering around or crawling on both your food and yourself. We kept hoping the wasps would go away but they persisted.… Continue Reading
A Later Perspective with More Compassion
It’s amazing how unchanging our perspectives can be over time. I had a chance yesterday to see how revisiting some details from my past could give me a new perspective and understanding of a situation. Yesterday I got to reminisce at a party with a classmate from my childhood days, who I hadn’t seen in… Continue Reading
Becoming Batman
Our continued interest in comic book heroes reflects our admiration for those who help others despite the challenges. When I was a boy I got my comic book fix in 12 cent monthly increments They were delivered via the local variety store called [in all its early innocence and lung-stomping dastardliness] the Smoke Shop. There,… Continue Reading
The Joy and Time Travel of Anticipation
One of life’s greatest pleasures is the joy of looking forward to something good. We experience anticipation as the optimistic feeling that links our Past and Present into the Future, as an emotional guess of what is to yet to be. Anticipation is a reflection of both the hope and the confidence that moves us… Continue Reading
Beyond Keeping Up with the Joneses
When I was growing up “Keeping up with the Joneses” had an air of inevitability and a hint of disdain, as if someone was being excessive and pulling us along. Our culture seems to have gone beyond that level. Our shopping-oriented culture is now beyond compare, with warehouses filled with even more stuff. Nowadays, many… Continue Reading