This story begins with a black and white fur ball, a howling, meowing, fit-in-the-palm-of-your-hand kind of kitten, whose tiny bruised nose once pink has a gash trailing a mysterious path. “We’ll name him Einstein,” my husband Bill said with the force of one christening a ship, “because he was smart enough to survive the woods…
Bill and I love America. We often say how grateful we are we were born in a land with endless opportunities and freedoms … which is why we simply didn’t choose to move to another country. With hindsight though, God has been preparing us over the years, through the little things for the large. But…
I thought I was funny. Many times I projected a thought for others’ enjoyment. They’d laugh. Thus, I figured I was funny. When someone didn’t laugh, I simply surmised my tongue-in-check dry wit didn’t translate. That is until recently. Husband Bill had read a book about enneagram personalities. Upon more research on the trusty internet,…
Imagine the scene: a big blue bowl filled with popcorn is placed in front of Elizabeth Ann, who is all of three-years old. Sandwiched between Bill and me on our king-size bed, Elizabeth’s head is angled my way. She watches me while I pick-out one kernel of popcorn at a time, savoring each morsel, only…
I got a pair of Kate Spade Keds in May and let them be one of my birthday gifts. I typically don’t feel the need to shop the name brands, and I’m pretty sure Bill paid an extra thirty or so dollars for the silver spade emblem placed on the shoes’ heels. My justification? The…
One of the pitfalls of childhood is that one doesn’t have to understand something to feel it. By the time the mind is able to comprehend what has happened, the wounds of the heart are already too deep. …
I ate green stuff for lunch, my most ingenious concoction yet. This yogurt, fruit and green nutrient powder blend had zero-fat and only three hundred calories. Even more ingenious was how it slid down easily in my four-minute dash to lunch duty. Empowerment infused me just glancing over the display of vitamins, minerals and…
“There are no grades of vanity, there are only grades of ability in concealing it.” Mark Twain, Notebook, 1898 I’ve been distracted lately, uncomfortably so. Newscasters, celebrities, models in magazines, even those who are never in a spotlight, have me wondering why everyone is so glow-y. Their bronzed faces and merging strips of illuminator with…
Saturday I witnessed a conversation that went something like this: Husband: I’m concerned it will take something egregious for him to see the truth. Wife: Egregious? What? Husband: As in bad . . . Wife: I know, I know. So why didn’t you just say bad? Just talk so people can understand you. Don’t you…
The Art of Lovely Living: 