It’s that time again, and love is in the air. It smells a lot like roses, or chocolate. Woe be unto the ones who forget to honor their love with gifts and kisses. Sad is the lonely one who is the only one at the office not to receive flowers on that special day. We’ve learned, at least in American society, that February 14 must be managed appropriately. There are rules to proving your love, and they’ve mostly been set…
I’m just one tiny little person among over seven billion on this planet. (Okay, not all that tiny, but you know what I mean). How can it possibly matter what I do, in the face of all the problems in the world? Can any one person’s decisions have an impact, any impact at all, on the state of this world today? Does it matter one iota whether I recycle, or compost, or vote, or donate time or money, or do…
Hello, February. The groundhog has promised us an early Spring. Already the days are lengthening. It is no longer dark when I leave my volunteer station at five p.m. A misguided daffodil is waving in my front yard, sure to get his wee head bitten off next weekend when the temps drop below freezing again. The darkness doesn’t last long. And so, I believe, it is with Life also. There are dark days for all of us; such is the…
There have been times when I really didn’t like certain things in my life. More than once, actually. You’ve probably had times like that, too. Most of us have. Sometimes it’s a relatively simple fix: remember to gas up the car the evening before, even if it’s raining and you’re tired and hungry, so you don’t run late the next morning. Leave the remote in the same place every time so you don’t have to send out a search…
I know I’m a minute late for traditional New Year’s Resolutions, but if it’s a good idea on January 1, it’s a good idea on January 19 or March 23 or July 9. It’s a part of that “examined life” I like to talk about. I kinda have a problem with the word “resolution” anyway. To resolve something is to finish it. If I resolve to stop drinking diet soda, and I slip on January 19 and drink a delicious…
When I was a little girl, I wanted to grow up to be a princess. Or a mermaid. That was my dream. It didn’t come true; I guess now it never will. Some of our dreams are unrealistic, far-fetched, or ill-informed. Later in childhood, when I reached third grade, I decided I wanted to grow up to be a teacher. Mrs. Mabel Howard created a warm, interesting world in her classroom, and I knew I wanted to live in that…
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” At the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, I am drawn to the examination of my own life. In fact, 2019 goes down as my all-time Best Year Ever. I can’t imagine how any year could surpass 2019 for me (although it’s fine if 2020 wants to try!) I’ll explain it in a six-word story: Thank you, AncestryDNA. I’ve been found! The beautiful baby girl that I gave up for adoption…
Students are “supposed to” dread the beginning of school. This is a part of the American culture, like baseball and apple pie. But I’m not buying it. I don’t think most children have wonderful summers. I think mostly they’re bored. I know there are lots of families who go on grand vacations and do picnics every week and all that. But I suspect the majority of our kids are sitting at home, bored out of their minds. Many parents get…
I never slept the night before school started. Not as a student; not as a teacher. I was too excited. The beginning of a brand-new school year stretched before me, magical and unknown. What treasures would the next nine months hold? What rewards, what fun? Teaching was my calling. I was put here to teach. I realized that in third grade, in Muscogee County Elementary School, in Columbus, Georgia, in the classroom of Mrs. Mabel Howard. She loved children and…
I finally figured it out. The real reason I weigh So Much. It’s my perennial allergy to bites from Evil Plants. I’ve had the itchy, blotchy agony of the sinister Leaves of Three probably a dozen times in my life. I’ve pretty much learned to recognize it from a thousand feet away. I like to replicate that last scene in Invasion of the Body Snatchers when I see it, pointing and screaming loudly. And I’m happy to say that I…