I want to write the book my kids want to keep
My bookshelves are piled high with titles from the past. Books I purchased because they were assigned. Books I used for reference. Books I consulted. Books that taught me how. Books that showed me where. Books, books, books, books! So many, in fact, that I couldn’t read many of the spines, because we were long […]
The View
Mesmerizing, this small, sprightly sparrow, as he (or she) hops, perches, steps, sidles, then leaps, flaps, lands. Exploring twig to twig branch to branch, bridging tree to tree. A car approaches, hesitating at the intersection. “Doesn’t she have something better to do with her time?” I can imagine its driver is saying of me. This is […]
Thanks for Dinner, Dad
“Rats,” said one. This was greeted by a delighted chortle from the backseat, where sat the other, smiling at beating her sister this time to thank Dad for the dinner we had just enjoyed at the restaurant. The rules are: you can’t say it until we return home, the driveway counts, first to remember, wins. No […]
Sticky Fingers Don’t Leave Prints
It’s terrible having sticky fingers. No, not the kind that pull what doesn’t belong to you off the department store shelves. I’m no thief. I don’t steal stuff. I feel stuff. Everything I touch has a sense, a texture, a tone, a pinch, a puff, a cuddle, a rebuff. It’s slippery or slimy, it’s sticky […]
Paid Coaches: The Hidden Cost We Can’t Admit
Many, perhaps most, would say we have lost our grip on youth sports in this country. Parents are out of control, kids aren’t achieving, coaches are misbehaving and the whole system isn’t producing the kinds of players we hope to display on an international stage. I think this all started when we asked Dad and […]
Making Space for Him to do More
How I do love to make myself useful. In fact, that instruction still rings gently in my ears from my mother, frustrated that I had too much time on my hands with nothing to do. “Go make yourself useful,” she’d say good-naturedly. And I would go and be about some other twaddling as a teen […]
The Life of a Book
My paternal grandfather didn’t set out to be a writer. In fact, I’m told he wanted to be an opera singer. These aspirations took him traveling across Germany where he learned to speak the language fluently and, as it turns out, fell in love with the life and writings of Martin Luther. So much so […]
Letting Love Show
Using our bodies may be the most sacred of all things we do on earth. It’s the one thing we are given that is meant to be used wholly for our time here on our earth – our LIFE-time. The greatest testimony of all, beyond the life of our Lord, is our own life as […]
Nutrition, Body Composition and Health: 5 Talking Points with Teens
Coaches boldly tackle teams, players, parents, administrators and opponents head on. But there’s one thing most of them won’t touch: the “nutrition talk.” Especially male coaches of female athletes, either out of personal discomfort or for fear of raising the risk of eating disorders, avoid the conversation all together. That leaves overweight, obesity, and body […]
Sneak Attacks of Joy
You sneaky Joy You wait just ’round the corner poised to … leap just as soon as I come your way. There you are across the street as I open the door to the new day. Is that you who tickled me as I watched the children playing and the teens jostling and the white-haired […]