Normally I share my silly ‘Crack Myself Up’ stories on Victoria Ponders but this one was too timely, given that Mother’s Day is just a few days away – this coming Sunday here in the U.S. and in Canada. (Btw…I love this resource which provides some of the historical background about Mother’s Day – including … More Crack Myself Up: “The Layaway Plan”
I keep threatening to get rid of Facebook, Instagram, and various other social media apps on my smartphone. I open them up and think I’m just going to check on a few posts. When I look up again, I find that I’ve been roaming mindlessly for twenty minutes and can’t tell you a thing about … More Giving technology the heave-ho
I’m usually the first one up at our house and I wondered aloud the other morning…as I spent the first few minutes of my not-quite-awake-state shuffling around our kitchen and family room. Talking to myself, asking a ridiculous question before the sun was up: What’s the origin of the idiom, “clear the deck”? Here’s what … More Clear the Deck!
I filled up my coffee cup at convenience store counter and reached for the creamer. When I looked up, I saw out of the periphery of my eye an old man with a walker. He was hunched over and looked vaguely familiar, like one of my old high school teachers. I could tell right away … More Kindness all around us!
This past weekend we were packing up to leave the vacation place we stayed at for two weeks. My nine-year-old daughter, Miss O, was helping my friend, Eric, put the rubber raft away. He’d purchased the raft for this trip so he had the original box. After deflating it, they rolled it up and then … More Doing the Impossible
My good humor was stretched a little thin last week. In fact, if you had asked me, I would have told you that life was feeling like a little bit of a slog. And while we are on the subject [of me complaining], I was also feeling broke. Even though my income hasn’t changed and … More Setting the Tone
When I was a young kid and well into my teenager years, I loved to curl up on the sofa in our living room and read the Sunday comics. I cared little initially about the rest of the paper — the dark and drab side, as I used to call it — but I pored … More Life lessons from Peanuts, Calvin & Hobbes & Company
Some nights I get to share the story-telling job at bedtime. I ask my kids if they have a story to share and last week eight-year-old Miss O volunteered this one: At lunchtime at school, she was in a stall going to the bathroom, when a small voice called, “Where are you, Nico?” Then a … More Thoughtful Thoughtlessness
Have you ever been in one of those meetings that are so excruciating that they threaten to suck the marrow from your bones? I have. During one of those long and tortuous meetings, I noticed that we were making no progress at all despite several hours of intense discussion on the topic, let’s call it … More Words, Words, Words
“One person caring about another represents life’s most significant value.” Jim Rohn I was struck by a moment of utter, age-related joy a few weeks ago which then turned to age-related horror. Given that we are discussing gratitude this month what better time can there be to share. Please note however, I AM poking fun … More Still Younger…With Some Wiser Tossed In
The Heart of the Matter 