Recently, my favorite TV show, Sunday Morning, featured a segment on a cleaning professional who spends his days off from work cleaning the tombstones of our veterans. He then researches their lives and posts their stories on his website. He loves bringing these veterans back to life.  What a remarkable man! I began to get tears in my eyes. This man spends his day off cleaning the tombstones of those…

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Last night I dreamed I was renting a room in a boarding house. Another woman was renting a larger space across the hall. She came to me and offered to switch rooms. I thought it would be nice to have more space; however, I realized how cozy I felt in my warm, inviting room with its lovely fireplace, desk, and bookcase. The larger room was not cozy. I felt a…

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I’m alone on a circular track where I either go around again and again or finally stop—depending on a guy on a pedestal holding either a green or checkered flag. I know what you’re thinking. Flags are used for car racing and starting pistols for track races—but it’s my dream! Each time I pass the flag man, I ask myself: Who gives this guy any right to determine another lap?…

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Photography by Deb Diasparra, www.diasparraphoto.com; used with permission   I dreamed I was sailing a fully rigged tall ship. I felt the wind in my hair and watched the sails billowing. I was content, in control, captain of my own destiny. I picked up my spyglass and saw another vessel not too far away. That boat was sailing in sand—beached. The captain waved at me—oblivious to the that he was…

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I played marbles a lot in grade school. (Lost a lot of my marbles there! 😦) I learned teamwork playing first base and sometime shortstop on a girls’ baseball team in junior high. (Softball was for wimps, and we were good enough to consistently beat the boys’ team.)  But one of the most important lessons in life I learned playing Jacks. My friends and I gathered for a Jacks-a-thon every…

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“Boredom is the beginning of creativity,” I would tell my children when they lamented, “Mama, I’m BORED!” I would then look at them and say, “What are you going to do about it?” I would watch as they’d shift from one leg to another, roll their eyes from side to side, and finally smile—a signal that their unique natures had helped them find an interesting way to spend their time. Off…

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KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON These words were on one of several motivational posters published by the British government during World War II. The poster was simple: large-print, white letters on a red background with a crown topping the lettering. It was to be circulated upon the invasion of Nazi Germany into Great Britain. Because of luck, Hitler’s focus on Russia, or perhaps Divine protection, the invasion never occurred, and…

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When I was a kid growing up in Tucson, Arizona, my Mom dragged me to the rodeo every few years. I could spot the dreaded rodeo grounds from a distance by the tan cloud of dust hanging in the air like a comic strip balloon:  I’m over here, ready to clog your lungs with dust, fungus, bacteria and airborne microscopic animal feces. The very sight of it made me wish…

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Valentine’s Day—a wonderful celebration for some. A day to get through—to get over—for others.  But no matter your present situation, if you have had love in your life—even lost love—it has changed you, hopefully expanded your heart, given you an even greater capacity for love. I first wrote this poem in 1969.  I was 21 years old.  I have “dinked” with it over the years, adding the perspective of time. …

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