Rick Warren wrote about ” A purpose driven life” long before social media tore the world to shreds. Yet purpose is more important now than ever before. When a child’s world consisted of extended family, a modest home, a neighborhood of people talked or even bar-b -qued together, the problems of the neighboring state was far…
You know who you are. You have a drawer, a closet, a garage, a storage locker full of stuff you ‘really need”. Or stuff that has a memory attached. Stuff you will never ever retrieve or use and the cost of that storage both financially and psychologically is expensive. How could that space be better…
I worry that there is a pervasive and wicked sickness threading silently through our society. I believe it may be born of having too many choices and not enough threat to our physical existence so that we are focused always on minutia. “I don’t like this or that,” “he/she was rude to me, ” “how…
How does quality come to be? I took a coffee cup out of the cupboard this morning and noticed the glaze was white and bright, the weight was perfect, the handle easy to grip. It was from Darwin’s birthplace in England, and I bought it as an homage to science. I felt it needed my…
It’s been 5 months now since my mom passed. Sometimes it feels like ages ago, and some days I forget that she is gone and I sense her spirit nearby. Loss is such a strange thing. It lives somewhere in a corridor between the head and the heart, it travels up and down like a…
From a friend: I never thought I would have any trouble grieving a great loss because as a kid, I often felt betrayed by how readily tears came. Moments of feeling exposed and tender seemed like a major handicap in a world where appearing ‘better than’ was somehow a win. But then, when everything fell apart, I think the ability to live in denial for a time, though costly itself, also saved my life. Even as I became an abyss (relative to the radical contact with life that I I love the most), I also didn’t fall into one. Over…
It occurred to me recently that the great desire for more fellowship and humanity in our daily lives is because we have all surrendered our humanness to the idea that we ARE our opinions. Or rather, YOU are your opinions. I see you as a Liberal, a Catholic, a gay, a vegan, a techie, etc, but…
Years back, a person’s home was just a utility. A home was where you prepared dinner, took a bath, did homework, ironed some clothes and watched a little TV. It didn’t matter if the couch matched the end tables, or the appliances were stainless, white or peach. The plumbing should work and the garage should…
Looking ahead to our “golden years” is nobody’s idea of a great conversation starter. If you are under 40 you may be inclined to stop reading here, but DON”T. Likely you have parents, aunts, older cousins and they need your wisdom about thinking ahead, and as surely as the sun rises in the east, you…
I always thought this was about a woman’s period! You know, the passage from maidenhood to mavenhood. The dreaded transition from youth to a life of a bored and sexless routine. Gray days of wrinkles and regrets. Well, guess again! The real “Change” is happening to couples and singles who realize they are getting…
Navigating Olderhood 