still
My friend Connor was finished with his semester and on summer break. We made plans to get together last night. After having dinner, there was still more in the way of catching up that we wanted to do. So we took a drive to the ocean, arriving just before 10:00 PM. Though it had been chilly and…
the best croissant so far
We got off the plane, exhausted after an excruciatingly long flight. It was 6:00AM Saturday in Paris. Our "limo" service was cramped and the morning sky was gray. No one was in much of a mood to look around or talk as we fought our way through morning traffic. Of course, it was too early for…
wonder
I was looking out the window yesterday, waiting for one of the kids who would be arriving soon. I noticed a bird perched not more than five feet away. I slipped around the window until I was hidden by the wall, and slowly opened the window so that I could get a better look, without the glare on…
small kindnesses
In the weeks after the Twin Towers collapsed, something interesting happened. People started remembering to be nice to one another. I'm still not quite sure of the connection between being faced with danger or death, and treating others better. Maybe it's a religious nudge some people feel, that…
of cheesecake and choices
In my recent post entitled "wannabe," I included this short paragraph: Ah, good old humility. It didn’t go the way of the dinosaur. It’s still as effective as it ever was, if we give it a dusting. It seems to me that the idea of humility is most often greeted with groans of resistance. Or…
triple threat
I've started this particular post three times. Had three different images in place as a visual muse. This one finally feels right. It's a difficult concept to convey, but an important one. I'll do my best. If you read my recent post entitled "when words are sentences," you may have been…
when words are sentences
Grammatically speaking, a sentence may consist of a single word: Stop. Duck! Sing! I separated those into separate lines to avoid the mental image that would come of combining them. Each of these sentences contains a verb, which we see, and an "invisible" (understood) subject – the audience to…
this is a test ...
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP! This is a test. Sorry to assault your eyes there, but I have your attention. Good. I'm going to give you your first real, live test. It's more of a challenge, really. So, I'm going to ask you to get a piece of paper and something to write with. Or open up a document file…
wannabe
If you haven't yet read any of my other posts, I'd encourage you to consider doing so before reading this one. It doesn't matter which one, really. I just fear that, if this is the first of my writings you read, you may tune me out forever afterward without some context, because of the advice in…
what vs. why
This turned out to be my longest post yet! But I promise you won't be sorry if you take the time to read it. Last Fall, I was invited to be a guest speaker at a university. I introduced the central theme of The Best Advice So Far, which is that, while we cannot always choose our circumstances,…