A real reunion.
I was at my 30th high school reunion on Saturday night. I’m still processing the lifetime of living I saw on people’s faces, the disappointment and pain and joy in those lines around everyone’s eyes. While pondering that reunion experience this morning, I saw this photograph, a soldier returning to …
Perspective
I vividly remember my mother telling me that she was going to her 25th high school reunion. Time slowed to a grinding, smoking halt as I turned and looked at her, blinking, blinking, blinking, all the while thinking loudly inside my head, "My lord, woman, how old ARE you?" "That’s …
Be thankful for brick walls.
Oh, man. Many colleges and universities are sponsoring what they are calling "Last Lectures," inviting speakers to deliver what they would if they knew it was their last lecture. For one professor, the "last" part of "last lecture" is very real. Jill Fallon has posted a must-see story and video, …
Be a coach. Step in.
I really loved seeing this tonight on Johnnie Moore’s blog. As Johnnie mentioned all the way from London, it’s so nice to see someone helping on YouTube, not someone laughing at or ridiculing another’s misfortune. Simple acts of kindness. I so resonated with a comment left by Jack Yan on …
Y’all come on down
November is a really lovely time to visit my town, here in the mountains of North Carolina. The weekend of November 16-18 should be especially lovely, I’m thinking, capped with a tiny reading by yours truly at Asheville’s spectacular independent bookstore, Malaprop’s, from 3-4pm on Sunday, November 18th. [More importantly, …
Love is greater than fear
"The most destructive element in the human mind is fear. Fear creates aggressiveness." – Dorothy Thompson This is my new favorite bumper sticker, spotted on a red Honda Element this afternoon. Must find out where to get one. The sister to this one reads LOVE > HATE, but since fear …
Remember Meta
“…when we finally know we are dying, and all other sentient beings are dying with us, we start to have a burning, almost heartbreaking sense of the fragility and preciousness of each moment and each being, and from this can grow a deep, clear, limitless compassion for all beings.” –Sogyal …
Australia, anyone?
Tess started pre-school this fall in a wonderful Montessori school. How I wish I lived there, every child respectful and kind and engaged in wonderful learning with gorgeous wooden objects color-coordinated and all in their special place on wooden shelves, nothing out of order, nothing broken, nothing missing pieces or …
Z is for Zinnias
Lucky Indiana, to have had the zinnia as their state flower from 1931 to 1957. The fine people of Indiana evidently lost their minds in 1957, discarding the zinnia for the peony. I can’t complain too much because I too celebrate the peony (it’s the only thing in my yard …
Y is for Yes, Yardstick, Young
When I get my first tattoo—it’s bound to happen, don’t you think?—this is what I want to get, like Gluten-Free Girl—simply one word, the word “yes.” Yes to life. Yes to love. Yes to listening. Yes to looking.Yes to a walk in the rain with a dog that smells. Yes …
