“I don’t understand why it has to be so hard.” Tears filled my coworker’s eyes as she poured out her heart. Recently she had faced difficult challenges in seemingly every aspect of life ~ financial, relational, and medical. All her life she had worked hard. Now she felt surrounded by people who seemed to get…
Wrinkling my nose at the foul odor, I pulled my sweater from the washing machine. Two days before I had set the wash cycle in motion, fully intending to come back and hang the sweater to dry. But life got busy and I forgot about it. Unless I wanted to live with the stink, I…
I’m sorry, am I invisible? Although I didn’t give voice to my thoughts, I’m sure the incredulous look I sent the young man said it all. After cutting in front of me, he made his way to the cashier. Catching my eye, he nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders, leaving me fuming in his wake. His rudeness…
“Well, hello there!” Turning from the counter, I located the speaker. A solitary elderly man sat finishing his dinner. “It’s getting cold, isn’t it?” he beamed. Returning his smile, my husband and I began chatting with the friendly gentleman as we waited for our food order. In just a few minutes, we learned so much…
Grinning in joyful expectation, I joined the crowd and began cheering for the Medieval Jousters. Full of good-natured dramatics and artful choreography, the horses and actors performed with expert showmanship. But suddenly they introduced a startling plot twist. The evil knight powerfully defeated the noble one. And the crowd around me let out a delighted…
According to a recent survey, eighty-six percent of people ages thirteen to thirty-eight want to be an influencer. By definition, an influencer makes money by promoting products and services on their social media accounts. As this trend has grown, we now identify four levels of influencers based on the number of their followers: Nano Influencers…
I wish life came with its own remote control. So often in the past weeks and months, my heart has longed to “go back”. Go back to a time when life felt safe and full of hope and promise. Maybe you can relate. When life hurts, we often look back with nostalgia to easier times….
I still remember laughing with my young students as we read The Emperor’s New Clothes. Entertaining and engaging, this classic fairy tale from Hans Christian Anderson always pleased my young crowd. (If you are unfamiliar with the tale, you can read it here.) We couldn’t help but chuckle as the vain emperor fell for the…
After spending a week cleaning and sprucing our house in preparation of its sale, we put it on the market. Within three days we had three strong offers. One potential buyer offered to pay an amount well above our asking price ~ in cash. An offer too good to refuse. But even as we signed…
