Tag: walking

Why Smile?

To make eye contact and smile is a kind of prayer, and it changes you. - Anne Lamott Lamott’s quote about the power of smiling has been on my mind most mornings when I walk my dogs past others in our neighborhood: the gaggle of women, the power pairs, the man who limps alongside his … Continue reading Why Smile?

New Shoes

At one point, I couldn’t imagine wearing out two-plus pairs of shoes per year. Now each day begins with pavement pounding. My junior high mile run time was slower than my current walking mile time. I loved school and books and writing, but hated PE. I snail-crawled my way through the mile “run,” followed by … Continue reading New Shoes

5 Healthy Habits for 2021

Last year I set a goal to drink more water. I wobbled for a while before the habit took hold. Initially, my skinny water bottle needed to be filled 4 times each day to meet my goal and I kept losing track - was I on bottle #3 or #4? Eventually, I recognized the bottle … Continue reading 5 Healthy Habits for 2021

Grief Balms: Snow Globes & Beauty Emergencies

Grief seems to be at every corner this year. Many of us have shared occasions for grief, such as illness and death, the loss of normalcy, shuttered shops and closed schools, dwindling dollars in our bank accounts, isolation and loneliness. Most of us also have personal reasons for grief. For two weeks I haven’t left … Continue reading Grief Balms: Snow Globes & Beauty Emergencies

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

Quieting Our Souls: Solitude

Born and raised in SoCal, most of my life has been lived within 20 minutes of the coast. Until now, when the coast is at best 30 minutes away and at worst, an hour+. I have noticed lately an intense craving to be near the water. The local reservoirs, and the two or three hikes … Continue reading Quieting Our Souls: Solitude