A while back I was listening to a podcast, or maybe an NPR interview, I’m afraid I can’t remember. The guest speaker said something about stories helping us fall in love with the world again, and that’s all that stuck with me. Not the rest of the interview, not the name of the show, not...
The other night, I attended an “evening of creation” designed to help us access our “practical spirituality.” One of the presenters, Jonathan, played music for us on a handpan drum. I wasn’t familiar with the instrument, and the sound was ethereal and relaxing. Jonathan was one of those splendid individuals who manage to come across...
This post originally ran on August 27, 2016 We are bombarded daily with tips for how to live longer, healthier lives. How to treat our bodies better, bolster our minds and nourish our souls. We’re supposed to drink eight glasses of water a day, get eight hours of sleep per night, eat our greens, meditate,...
I was chatting with an artist friend the other day whose career is taking off. I complimented her by saying she’d done everything right over the years in terms of following all the steps to achieving her desired career and being patient with the process. She said something to the effect that it wasn’t hard...
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...
Two couples came over last weekend for a socially distanced, outside-in-the-cold birthday gathering for one of our friends. When he arrived, he had the “Celebration” song by Kool & The Gang playing on his cell phone. “Let’s dance!” he said. My husband and our other friends stood up to shake their booties. I got up...
Some of us here in Colorado woke to a foot of snow this morning. I’m not going to say there isn’t a certain beauty to spring snow—even when it is laying tulips flat and snapping branches on budding trees—but I confess my first thought was, “Oh come on, Mother Nature, you heartless witch. Don’t you...
You say you’re not an artist, then you cut a perfect leaf into the top of the pie crust. You say you’re not creative, but you make up puns on the spot. You say you’re not inspired, then you carefully write the perfect encouragement into that graduation card. You say you’re not inventive, but your...
As you know, I’m an historian by training, and the American Revolution has always been one of my favorite eras to study. It continues to fascinate me that great leaps forward (and backward) in our world cultures seem to take place when a particular group of like-minded, ambitious people come together, and never was there...
The other day I was invited to a party at one of those places where everyone drinks wine and learns how to paint the same picture. I’ve never been a good artist, and that night my right arm was hurting from typing all day. I didn’t want to irritate it further by holding up a...