Category Archives: Life
A resilient heart
Broken hearts mend, but they never quite resemble what existed before. When you sweep up the shattered pieces, even the best adhesive can’t produce an exact replica, for some shards are lost permanently and don’t make it into the re-built heart. It is altered forever. It is still a beautiful heart, though–worthy of the respect, …
Watch your step!
Carelessness comes in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes it is a true lack of feelings for others, and sometimes it is mere laziness or selfishness. Sometimes it is an outright act, and sometimes it is an act of omission. You never know when the carelessness of another will cause you to slip and fall–usually figuratively. …
Fish out of water
It was likely my obsession with food (and my strong opinions about it) that led to me dining at one of the LAST places anyone who knows me would ever picture me going to willingly. Am I prissy? Yes. Am I prim and proper? Yes. Am I uptight? Oh, yes. So, how is it …
Sharing the path
I can’t say for certain whose gait was more labored and stiff-legged–the elderly man or the graying black terrier he walked on a leash. I greeted them this morning with a nod, a smile, and a hello when we passed, walking in opposite directions on the circular path around a large pond. When I neared …
Crushed
One small flower, pressed in the pages of a large old book, falls out gently into my lap. Crushed flat by time and the weight of the pages enfolding her, she’s now merely a remnant of the life and beauty she once held. Color faded, brittle and crumbling–yet someone once thought enough of her to …
Most Agreeable
Day camp. Adler Park. Summer of 1973. I can’t tell you if it lasted two weeks, four weeks, or six weeks. I can tell you it felt like years and taught me a painful truth about my value in the hierarchy of my peers; a truth that has been hard to shake. I was ten …
Dust
Greeted, needed, he moves around the room, Each requires a piece, just a very small piece, As they chip away the lining of his enormous heart, Not one sees the resulting holes. Please help, do this, be here, don’t leave, His gift becomes his curse, How can they not see the toll it takes? …
The ripple effect
Though my shoe barely made contact with it, down rolled the stone from the walking path into the pond this morning. I never even saw the stone, just felt my shoe brush against it while in mid stride. Down to the water’s edge it travelled and, upon entering the pond, made its presence known by …
In the presence of greatness
We each choose what and who we hold in esteem, that which we deem to be greatness. I was blessed yesterday to be in the presence of what I consider just that: I was privileged to attend a celebration for a 40th wedding anniversary. Given my age and my unmarried status, it is a milestone …
If I let you in
If I let you in, will you stay to hear what I have to say? Will you listen? Really listen? Or will you politely nod and smile, silently considering somewhere else you’d rather be? If I let you in, will you open your soul to me, trusting me to treat your vulnerability with honor and …
barrelmakersdaughter 