I’m not a naturally thankful person. I know I’m supposed to be. I’ve heard gratitude is the path to success, or at least to contentment. Still, I’m much more likely to notice the things that are wrong in my life than the things that are right. I’m much more likely to focus on all I […]
In the fall of 2013, I was diagnosed with stage 2 colon cancer. As cancers go, I was pretty lucky: I needed no chemo or radiation. A skilled surgeon removed it with about a third of my colon, it has not returned, and now I get to make writer jokes about having a semicolon. It […]
This is my fourth post for the Your Turn Challenge. Status of my goals: Marathon: Back on track. I completed yesterday’s run this morning. Two Square Yards of Earth: Behind schedule. No change since yesterday. 100 Posts: Behind schedule. This is my sixth post for the year, of eight planned by the end of this […]
I no longer consider myself exclusively Christian. But I love Christmas. I didn’t always. For a big chunk of my life, it was always somebody else’s holiday: before I embraced Christianity, it was too much about Jesus, and after, it was too much about buying and consuming. There was always something to be mad about […]
I can’t quote a single line of her poetry. All I know of her work is the multitude of beautiful, inspiring quotes anyone can find online. But she was undeniably a woman of great courage. A woman whose words shaped our lives for decades, and will continue to do so for decades more. We’ll miss […]
There are more than a million of them, stretching back 239 years. Many, many more if we count those who came home broken and died earlier than they might have otherwise. I know a few of their names. So do you, I would guess. None of us knows all their names. Some are unknown entirely. […]
It’s a challenging time of year for lots of folks. The holidays can be a wonderful time: we take a few days off work, spend them with people we love and don’t get to see very often, eat and drink too much, give and receive gifts, rest, recharge, prepare for the new year. They can […]
A trash can on its side looks a lot like a cornucopia. A cornucopia stood on its point looks a lot like a trash can. I struggle, sometimes, to see the cornucopia–to recognize that, whatever happens, things are probably going to be OK. My kids have plenty to eat; we aren’t wearing somebody else’s castoffs; […]
There is a host of reasons folks have trotted out in recent years to be disdainful of our tradition of Thanksgiving: The way we celebrate has little in common with the way the original settlers celebrated. It’s a celebration of gluttony. It’s a celebration of genocide. We don’t focus enough on the giving thanks part. […]
Life sucks sometimes, and that’s that. Oh, there are all sorts of coaches and cheerleaders and counselors and bloggers out there telling us that our attitude is a choice, that we can rise above our circumstances if we can just convince ourselves to be happy–or barring that, pretending to be happy until we start feeling […]