Happy New Year to You and Me! As this day marks my 10th anniversary it is extra special to me. Ten years ago today I awoke from a coma in a small hospital in a foreign country. I’d taken my kids for the week to an intensive language school in Veracruz, Mexico. We left home […]

  When I was a young teenager, my quiet, steadfast stepfather gave me a lamp. Not an electric lamp, but one in which oil is the fuel and a wick provides the light. He attached a small note to the gift. It said, “Your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto […]

Do you get angry with the blind man because he cannot see? The red-tipped cane marks his physical lack of sight. Are you personally insulted by his handicap? I’m truly curious. Do you accommodate gracefully offering thanks that “ but for the grace of God, there go I?” Or, do you assign blame that if […]

Perhaps there is some love hidden deep within the relationship, but it’s not what’s showing up in this whirl. Here’s the dance: He feels like a piece of sh*t. She can’t bear his suffering. He goes down to the depths of pain and she ties her rope to him in hopes of saving him from […]

Driving into town, on my way to yoga, I found myself at my old office. How’d that happen? After all, they aren’t even in the same neighborhood. Well, I drove the route to that office for many years and autopilot took over as I took the familiar exit rather than paying attention to where I […]

Differing points of view can lead to conflict. We see that every day in small events in our personal lives to large global clashes. We are all brought up with different rules of engagement, particular to our home. How to navigate the differences in small encounters helps prevent the larger battles. When I was a […]

  I feel powerless in the face of the world’s problems, especially as those problems get close to home. My son at college was in the path of Hurricane Harvey. Las Vegas is not that far away from me. The shootings at the Charleston church and the violence at the Charlottesville rally still weigh heavily […]

“How are you?” When the bank teller or the grocery store clerk asks me that, I tell the truth—either in my tone or with my vocabulary. It’s a small rebellion I enjoy as a change from the conventional, “I’m fine.” In most instances, my truth-telling is rather unremarkable. However, on the occasion when I’m fuming […]

One of the first words a child learns is the word “no.” Ask any two-year-old if they want an ice cream cone, and they’ll say “no” even as they reach for it. They know the word; they know it’s a way to express their burgeoning independence. But sometimes they’re not quite clear on its meaning. […]

It was 2006 at Easter Brunch out in the Texas Hill Country. Carol, a mom of my son’s classmate was grumbling about her dog, a young, yellow lab named Henry. They really loved him, but were very concerned that they’d have to give him away due to his escape artistry. “He jumps the fence all […]