I was at St. Catherine’s last Saturday, taking part in a Toastmasters Leadership Institute. I wasn’t familiar with the campus, and it took me a little while to find the correct building. I thought I was being clever by simply following the line of cars pulling into one of the parking lots, until I found out they were there for a volleyball tournament, not the Toastmasters program. It was a bit of a distance to the building I actually needed to be in, but I [...]
“You’ll always be my friend… You know too much.” That was the saying embroidered on the quilt I gave to a close friend of mine for Christmas a number of years ago. This lighthearted sentiment is similar in tone to another phrase that’s often given as the definition of a friend, which is that a friend is someone who knows everything about you – and likes you anyway. Both these sayings came up as part of a talk I gave last week to a women’s [...]
It was one of those frigid, below-zero days we had a few weeks ago, when the biting wind made it feel even colder. “It’s supposed to be 30 degrees this weekend,” my husband said. I love it when the weather can still be below freezing, but it feels like a heat wave compared to what it’s been. Now, however, this wasn’t particularly welcome news. “It figures,” I said. “Just when we’re going out of town for the weekend.” We had planned a quick trip to [...]
As I turn the calendar page over to a brand new year, I’m also getting ready to turn the page to a brand new chapter of my life. It’s always been our dream that when my husband retired, we would relocate to someplace warm. That time is now, and suddenly something that we’ve always talked about – but that always seemed way off in the future – is now right around the corner. We’ve researched different areas of the country, and have visited several of [...]
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.” “No, no, no,” I told him. “It’s a good cry. These are happy tears.” It was the morning of Christmas Eve, and my husband, nephew and I had just finished breakfast at the restaurant my dad used to go to every morning. He always sat with a group of friends he’s known forever, and whenever we were in town, we’d usually join them for breakfast. “We still miss your dad,” the owner of the [...]
I’m pouring my heart and soul into my New Year’s Resolutions this year. Actually, it’s the other way around, and I expect my resolutions to make a noticeable difference in my life – my heart, my soul, my attitude and my concentration. All in just 20 minutes a day. While trying to decide what my New Year’s Resolutions would be this year, I thought about all the advice I hear regularly about things we should do first thing in the morning. Exercising, for instance, to [...]
I just completed one of my 2016 New Year’s Resolutions. It was one that I anticipated taking all year to finish, and I’m proud of myself for keeping at it. I’ve just read the Bible. The entire Bible, cover to cover. I figure that between the readings at Mass every week and various Bible studies I’ve done, not to mention learning Bible stories as I was growing up, I’ve probably read or heard every word of the Bible over time. But I decided at the [...]
Baking Christmas cookies is one of my favorite holiday traditions. It takes me back to when I was small, baking Christmas cookies with my mom and my sisters, and it brings warm memories of the many Christmases since then in which I’ve continued the tradition. I usually spread my baking out over several days, but this year my sister and I decided to make cookies together, so we spent a full day in her kitchen last weekend, sifting, sorting, measuring, and mixing. By the end [...]
I referred to it as “a minor miracle.” A friend of mine laughed, asking what I would consider to be a major miracle. “The parting of the Red Sea,” I told her. “The lame throwing down their crutches and walking. The blind suddenly being able to see.” She suggested that those might better be described as dramatic miracles, rather than major ones, and another friend then suggested that I call the one I was talking about a simple miracle, rather than a minor one. What [...]