Tonight I am up late… remembering. I love the power of memory as it intertwines with emotion to form a temporary reality. In quiet solitude, this gift of memory allows me to sit for awhile with my mother who passed away many years ago. It gives me glimpses into moments I will forever cherish and allows me to relive past experiences that define the meanings of my life. Tonight an open window in my mind has taken me back to a very special place where I learned a new meaning to the word “love”… « Continue reading »
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My daughter loves to watch musicals. It is one of our favorite things to do as a family. Even as young as 5, she was captivated by every musical she watched (expect for Footloose for some reason). The other night, we got blankies and piled on our bed to watch The Music Man. I was struck by a quote from the show. « Continue reading » My grand plans dissolved this morning as my 2 year old Elijah looked up and asked “Put the radio on?” I chose a college station and was pleasantly surprised by some Christian hip-hop as Eli donned his sister’s purple headband (all the better for dancing, I suppose) and proceeded to bust a move for a while with his Mama. He grinned and tackled quite a few snazzy routines, elbows flying as he smiled up at me. “I love my Mama,” he announced. It just doesn’t get any better than that. « Continue reading » Baseballs and dandelions. Its that time again. Grubby hands full of weeds looking intently in to your eyes as they thrust the fist into your hands. “For you, Mama!” My son Elijah is a one man weeding crew, ridding our lawn of the dreaded dandelion as if sifting for gold. He was sitting at the front curb picking today and I said, “E, get out of the street!” He protested, “But they’s flowers on there, mama!” But they’s flowers… He continued his mission until my curb was sufficiently weeded. « Continue reading » Even though it is almost summertime, this story still has some powerful meaning. Just imagine yourself into the Christmas season and enjoy… Yes, I’m with you. I was gritting my teeth each time I walked into a store past halloween candy or scarecrows and ran smack dab into an inflatable Santa. I took my daughter to the mall, and was shocked to see the jolly old elf holding court before November 15th! I was frustrated by the voice mail my friend sent informing me that the Christmas radio station began playing holiday favorites on November 1st. Now for the confessional part of my ranting. « Continue reading » I’ve always fancied time travel. When I was younger, I wanted to travel into the future. I dreamed that life at 30 would be sophisticated; I would dab Coco Chanel on my wrists before stepping out of my New York City apartment for a glass of champagne with friends. Now I long to travel into the past—to revisit brief pockets of time when my life was insatiably good. If I had a time machine, I would set the clock back to my summer writing retreats or a handful of episodes in my life defined by a particularly poignant friendship or love affair. « Continue reading » Spring brings little friends to fill our backyard while we big people mostly do the yard chores that usher in the new season. As winter reluctantly gives way to spring around here, things get hopping outside. OUTSIDE! Yay! Sun and wind and smiles (and the house stays cleaner because they are outside!) “Whatcha doin?” they cry, and pitch in with echoes of laughter, collecting the winter debris and playing in the dirt. « Continue reading » I am standing in a hot, smelly gymnasium. I can feel the sweat trickling down my back. My right arm is aching from holding up the video camera. My back hurts from hunching over so that I don’t block someone else’s view. And yet here I am with a big smile on my face… as happy as ever because tonight I am watching my daughter perform in the play she has been working on for the last few months. « Continue reading » It was warm today! It was finally warm. I think that some of the happiest times of the whole year are the first warm days of spring. The entire neighborhood seems to come alive. All of a sudden you are surrounded by friends again. « Continue reading » I am reading the book, “Happiness Now” by Robert Holden. He facilitates workshops on happiness and one of the exercises that he does is he puts up a slide that says HAPPINESSISNOWHERE” on the board and asks everyone to tell what they see. « Continue reading » |
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