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A Small and Simple Story About Choice and Why Some People May Have Left Their Jobs
For nearly a week I’ve driven past a loaf of bread lying by the side of the road still wrapped in its original packaging. It’s a busy road and nobody wants to stop the car to get out and deal with it. Every day the loaf looks more flattened and misshapen. The animals can’t gain access to the bread because it’s wrapped too tightly in material designed to degrade sometime in the next century. So there it sits, held back from its original purpose, deteriorating.
As I drove past the loaf today…
A Small and Simple Story About Adapting to the Strange In-Between
Over a decade ago I waited in line with strangers, travelers and pilgrims were we, piled next to the Vatican in Rome with our cameras poised and hoping to get a glimpse of Pope Benedict as he flew by in his tricked-out golf cart, the Popemobile. Pope Benedict died not long after that day. I’m glad I had the chance to see him smiling, holding on tight to the seat in front of him as the cart sped wildly past the crowd, the wind nearly stealing his papal hat…
A Small and Simple Story About Being Nice to Yourself While Attempting Change
A Small and Simple Story About Choosing the Simple Tree
A Small and Simple Story About Slowing Down a Bit
Lately, it’s been hard for me to sit quietly and center myself long enough to write well. I’m so distracted. Competing thoughts and worries about the world push away most good story starts. I tell myself it is reasonable to expect my working memory (and executive functioning) to be a little off in an extended pandemic. This brings to mind something small, yet worth sharing, about a clear message sent now and again by my nervous system,
Stop. Just stop.
A Small and Simple Story About Growing One Thing and Getting Another
In May I planted sunflower seeds late in the growing season. They sprouted quickly. I protected my seeds from predators which seemed to help. I covered the oval plot with netting, thwarting the birds and rabbits, after pushing the tiny, black ovals into enriched topsoil laid over layers of existing Michigan clay. The seeds took root and became plantlings. I shifted the netting from the top to the perimeter because the needs of the sunflower population changed.
This is called being responsive.
A Small and Simple Story About the Steady Constant of Grass
The world is hard again and for most people it never got easy. In times like this, the sturdy and resilient among us shine like beacons in a storm. We need these people desperately, yet seldom do we use the currency of our voices to lift them. To turn the tide, let me tell you about one such person.
A Small and Simple Story About Resiliency and Coffee Creamer
A Small and Simple Story About Trust and the Wild Ride of Home Ownership and Repairs
The man who built our home cut corners with precision. Not the actual joints of the building, rather, he skimped on materials and labor and did just enough to prevent all the imperfections from being revealed during a home inspection while simultaneously fooling unsuspecting buyers. They say the best teacher is your last mistake.