It’s a strange thing when your babies grow. Everyone knows that raising children means that one day they will actually rise, and that should mean they mature physically to the point of reaching the highest shelf in the kitchen where my hidden stash of cookies hangs out or becoming aware of the secret not-so-secret money… Read More
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Six-Word Business Plan
“Where am I in your business plan?” This is the question I heard from God in prayer yesterday. The question came to me in a moment of satisfaction with myself at the completion of the full business plan for Long Island Languages. Tom and I have been working every single day from sunrise to about… Read More
Fear of Falling
Anyone who’s held a newborn gets the subtle reminder that people are born with a fear of falling. Well, maybe newborns don’t actually feel afraid of it (and it’s impossible to ask them), but their grasping reflex suggests that their bodies are built to prevent themselves from a fall. Adults bond with babies through that… Read More
Why Buy Diamonds?
Diamonds. Sparkly. Precious. Tough. Dazzling. Glitzy. And expensive. What makes them the classic gift from a man to a woman they love? And why do women want them? First of all, I don’t actually know if there’s any one answer to this question, but I’m willing to take a stab at it. On the surface,… Read More
Happy Birthday — and Don’t Jump on the Couch
It’s become standard practice for me to leave the house and remind our youngest, now 18 years old, but still a teenager with bad ideas, not to jump on the couch. It’s a joke. It’s said with a smile. Though I can’t be certain, I’m pretty sure he never does jump on the couch and… Read More
Reading Tea Leaves
Learn anything new from your cup of tea lately? I did. Two winters ago, in an attempt to keep my resolution to spend more time with God, I grabbed a hot… Read More
Pandemic Projects: Backyard Gardening
In all of the fifteen Junes that I have lived in this house I have never had as much time to offer to gardening as I do this year. The attention that the yard has been given already in this 2020 gardening season is likely more than all prior years combined. Pandemic isolation does have… Read More
CHRISTMAS PAST
What’s your best Christmas memory? What year was the happiest Christmas for you? As I think about my own answer, I recognize the challenge this presents. I’ve had 48 Christmases so far. Which one was the best? That’s hard to say. It certainly had to be before anyone in my life ever died. It was also before divorce. It was before I equated… Read More
ALL OF SUMMER IS A STAIRCASE
For those of us who work in education, summer is a time of freedom, of dropping routines and lesson plans in favor of spontaneous trips to the water, or barefoot walks on hot pavement in the rain, or lunches at restaurants with outside seating — tanned skin, no make up. For all of us, July… Read More
DOES GOD TEXT?
I keep my iPhone at my fingertips through most of my waking hours, and it’s near me through the night as well. I leave it on the sink top while I’m in the shower. I put it on the car charger while I’m driving. It’s on the couch next to me while we Netflix in the living… Read More