I was thinking today about a fundraiser my husband, daughter, and I attended a little over a year ago for our local museum. We dressed according to the theme and enjoyed free food and drink. I had every intention of being on my best professional behavior — after all, I had been hired as a...
The way I’ve been feeling the past few months reminds me of having morning sickness. “Morning sickness,” by the way, is a misnomer. While it does often strike in the waking hours, it’s just as likely to hit you any time during the day when a certain sight, smell, or taste sets you off. At...
Things are heavy right now. Author Caroline Myss explained in a recent interview that we often insist we need a reason to feel positive. Lately, it’s sometimes hard to find a reason. Many of my friends are admitting to feeling more negative than usual. I get that. I had an odd and disturbing realization about...
Today, I mailed a package to my daughter. She will soon be celebrating her first birthday since moving to New York City and she’ll spend it in isolation in her apartment. I also drove across town and dropped off a present for a friend who turned 79 today. I put the gift bag on the...
Idahoans are fiercely independent. At least they were when I was growing up there in the 1970s and 80s. Private property was king. And no one, not even the government, could tell an individual what he/she could do. We guarded our privacy, too, though we were fine with gossiping about our neighbors. We greeted each...
Yesterday, I was having a drink with a friend and some of her friends. A couple of the women were talking about their grandkids and how hard they try to be of service to them, which is wonderful, but sometimes hard. I blurted out, “I don’t know. I spent a lot of time with...
I hear the weather has been really nice the past couple of days. I wouldn’t know. I’ve been holed up in my basement office working feverishly on two writing projects with deadlines. These are projects that mean a lot to me, and though I worked to the point of making my arms ache and my...
I was listening to an On Being podcast in which poet David Whyte was recalling a story of a dinner with his writer friend John O’Donohue. He mentioned he was thinking of giving his father money and said the amount, and John said, “Oh David, go beyond yourself. Give twice that much.” David Whyte’s larger...
Back-to-school ads brought a childhood memory to mind. In eighth grade, I was disappointed to get a certain English teacher. He had a reputation for being boring and dismissive and not too bright (although I’m sure 8th graders had harsher terms for him). And he proved to be all of those things. But halfway through...
I’ve been working on my branding and the messaging for my new website. In running through various exercises to arrive at what I do best, I realized there is a consistent theme in my life’s work. Everything I’ve done—from my books and other writings, to my speaking and presentations, to my community work and activism—has...