whole-body helping

Our dog is a few months shy of her 17th birthday (in human years) and is experiencing some hip problems (weakness, stiffness, etc). More and more often, I find her sitting bewildered on the kitchen floor as she tries to figure out why she can’t just stand up.
This evening I found her in a similar [...]

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looking forward to silence…

The Wunderhusband and I are attending a silent spiritual retreat this coming weekend. We’ve never done anything like this before, and I can’t wait to see where 2 concentrated days of directed, disciplined meditation, prayer, and Scripture reading take us.
Has anyone else done a silent retreat? Do you have any tips that you wish you’d [...]

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la vita e bella

Perhaps the closest thing to understanding beauty on this earth is knowing that goodness, happiness, and unending love exist alongside horrific suffering, evil, and misery.

Perhaps one’s purpose lies in discovering how to nurture and inspire the former, wherever and whoever one may be.

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he flung himself loose into the stars

“The forest floor was soft and familiar underfoot; the papery, pitchy fir cones stuck to Hugh’s bare feet as they had when he was a boy in Goshen. The dense welter of trees hid the sky completely. After a long walk, he heard the voices. Will Ruffin called to him, Vinnie called to him, [...]

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there’s something about belonging…

I’ve been thinking a lot about body image, self-care, and spiritual/physical health lately.
Kirsten’s tear-jerking, stunningly honest “Confession/Reconciliation” to her body deepened my thoughts on the issue.
It just seems that in life, I often (not always)  take better care of things when I know they belong to others. For instance, when I borrow a book from [...]

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End of an Era :’(

My beloved 2001 Ford Focus, Ginger, has passed away.
She gets officially donated to charity tomorrow.
I ADORE this car, and she’s in perfect condition aside from needing $5,000 in engine work. Not a single stain on the upholstery, fabulous exterior and interior. I’d even just had her detailed a month ago.
So, no plans for a new [...]

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Trader Joe’s & Solicitors/ the “homeless”

I just had a rather bizarre experience at my Trader Joe’s tonight.
It was near closing, and I was perusing the aisles in search of the items on my list. As I searched for bagged, baby spinach on the refrigerated aisle, a woman called out, “Excuse me….Excuse me”, moving closer to me as she spoke. I [...]

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98 degrees in the moonlight

Welcome to Arizona! I just sat at the pool and read 2 chapters of _Getting Things Done_ while my little sis swam for an hour. It was starry, with a big half-moon, and it was 98 degrees, at 11 PM.
Still, there’s a BIG difference between sitting in the sun in 98 degree weather vs. sitting [...]

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food anxiety

Googling the term “food anxiety” yielded a remarkable article:
It’s lengthy, but well written and worth the 5-10 minutes it takes to get through it.
Here’s a teaser (emphasis mine):

Moral strictures on food tend to be heavily dependent on gender, with taboos against fatty foods strongest for women. Researchers have [...]

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dollars & cents…and ideals & dreams

I learned something about myself today: I have absolutely no problem sneering at the idea of devoting any portion of my life to building material wealth (e.g., choosing a job solely for its financial remuneration). The size of a paycheck has never been my #1 driving force in taking a job–I’ve always taken into consideration [...]

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big decisions…

Yeah, those are always fun…
“le sigh”, to quote Jessica.
Today I learned that in order to pursue one opportunity, it is necessary to reject and thereby eliminate other opportunities.
Yeah, I know that’s very basic and common-sense. But I’ve always tried to do everything. And it finally sunk in today that as a grown-up, I just can’t [...]

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I love Nickel Creek

Even though they didn’t sing this song at the concert I just attended (YEAY for Downtown Disney HOB)! They sang everything else I could’ve wanted…I love seeing true, passionate musicians live and in a small venue: they always add something to their songs–a reworked bridge, a hilarious addition (like “short people” woven into “the house [...]

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processing

Sometimes I miss you
Sometimes, thoughts of what I let you do to me
and what I did to you
Shake my body with the anger they bring

At times, I’d like to scream at you, tears drip dropping from my eyes,
And make sure you understand
Just how many ugly scars our encounters left me

But I never wish [...]

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on victimhood….

She’d always chosen not be victimized, to resist and fight back, to hold on to hope and dignity and faith in the future. But victimhood was seductive, a release from respoinsibility and caring: Fear would be transmuted into weary resignation; failure would no longer generate guilt but instead would spawn a comforting self pity.
Now she [...]

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