Society tells us to move faster and get more done. And when your To-Do list seems longer than Santa’s Nice and Naughty list, that’s tempting. Sure, some tasks can be done quickly and crossed off. And you could give yourself the gift of more time by crossing a few undone tasks off your list. Other … Continue reading Efficiency Isn’t Everything
Tag: present
Smell the Roses
It’s rose season! I take a lot, and I mean a lot, of pictures of flowers. Roses especially, but any beautiful flower that captures my attention. Taking pictures—just on my iPhone, nothing too fancy—is for me a joy-filled discipline of noticing. I stop. I lean in. I frame the subject. I go for a better … Continue reading Smell the Roses
Be Where You Are
For most of the last eighteen years, our family has spent one week each summer vacationing in Pacific Grove, California, a NorCal coastal town nestled between Monterey and Carmel. Many years before our annual vacations began, while we were dating and newly married, Guy and I would drive from his childhood home in Santa Cruz … Continue reading Be Where You Are
The Sad Song
I had a rare treat last weekend: a Barnes & Noble sat across the street from the hotel where we stayed. Since most bookstores in our area have closed, I relished the opportunity to spend an hour meandering, collecting a stack of books that attracted my attention for various reasons, and sitting in a corner … Continue reading The Sad Song
High School Graduation
Tonight I feel seventeen. Tomorrow is graduation day. One more project to go: for English, a self-expression slide show of my life—my people, my friends and classmates—set to U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” We’ve been together a long time, but high school isn’t it. We still haven’t found what we’re looking … Continue reading High School Graduation
Quirky Christmas
School for 2014? Check! *Sigh of relief* The kids are off to movies and friends as I borrow a couple of quiet hours to straighten up and address Christmas cards. For weeks the house has been an explosion of Christmas detritus landed alongside, underneath, and atop backpacks, shoes and jackets, sporting equipment, and who knows whose … Continue reading Quirky Christmas