Growing with gratitude for life's challenges
Total exhaustion has taken hold. Brain is fried, emotions taut, body shot. Monday as we prepared to pull out, my right leg collapsed and as I reached out to stop the fall, I grasped with my left arm, wrenching an already torn shoulder. It did not bode well for the trip home. With a dead […]
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April means farewell, for we winter Texans. Not fated to be a quick journey, as problems keep arising, grounding travel, and interfering with our plans. Nevertheless, April means Spring and everywhere we look the birds are twittering with extra fervency – is that romance in the air? And even though we’ve encountered setbacks – breakdowns […]
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As you read this, Ric and I will be saying farewell to Texas and our cozy home on the canal. We leave behind new friends, the countless birds who have so entertained us, and the beautiful Gulf Coast. I am both excited to be home, and sad to end our time here. But isn’t that […]
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This life, a road –the way prepared for me,signs to guide my way,and yet, I get lost. Construction, distraction,disobedience – throw me off,I’ve chosen tougher routes,broken down and been sidelined. And yet, the road still beckons,invites progression, thrills.A rolling stone gathers no moss,my father liked to say, and so… I push ahead, keep motoring,trust the […]
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As I’m contemplating this week’s challenge, American Idol is playing in the background, and my attention is captured by a young woman explaining that a year ago she went blind. She talks about the hardship of not only losing her sight, but the torment she received at the hands of her peers. My eyes cloud […]
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” I’m worried about my generation, Mom. There are so few male role models to set an example, how are we supposed to know how to live our lives?” My son was fifteen when he shared this concern with me. Having watched his own father turn his back during our divorce, and witnessing the same […]
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Father abhorred laziness. “The idle mind is the Devil’s playground!” he’d say. Or: “What are you trying to do; win the horizontal championship?” Well, I’m the horizontal champion now, thanks to illness. Wonder what he’d say about that? Still, I’m not lazy. To my face he was hardcore, unless he was soppy drunk, then the […]
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(* or any male of influence growing up.) I can’t count the number of times my father’s words hover over me, even though he’s been gone since 2005. He was the king of platitudes – constantly quoting (and making us recite) the works of Dale Carnegie, or Norman Vincent Peale. “Mind over matter,” he’d say […]
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Questions are piling up over here, with very few answers. Isn’t that life? And maybe that is the point: we are meant to reflect, to ponder, to search, to explore. As a teacher, the emphasis was on inquisition: teaching children to think beyond the obvious, find the tools to research deeper. In this ever-increasing digital […]
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I’m struggling with myself. It isn’t the first time, and I’m certain it won’t be the last. There is no definable reason, and yet my emotional self tries to find blame: it’s Ric’s behaviour; it’s because I’m homesick; it’s my illness. Rationally, I recognize that my life is full of blessings right now, and this […]
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One Woman's Quest II 