bettyliedtke – Page 55 – FindYourBuriedTreasure

No longer bound by an age-old tradition

It happened again last week. And, just as it has in the past, it caught me completely off-guard. I was at 5:15 Mass on Ash Wednesday, and hoping that my stomach wouldn’t start growling during the quiet parts of the Mass. This was a possibility not only because it was getting close to dinner time, but because I had followed the Lenten restrictions for Ash Wednesday, which are to abstain from eating meat, to refrain from eating between meals, and to have only one full [...]

By bettyliedtke|March 14th, 2014|Accountability, Columns, Faith, Health and Well-being, Holidays|2 Comments

Making a long story short

“For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.” Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway, who was a master of the short story and of tight, spare writing, once made a bet that he could write an entire story in six words. With the above “ad,” he won the bet. This story – both the one by Hemingway and the one about him – has inspired a number of literary organizations and publications over the years to sponsor writing contests challenging participants to write stories consisting of a [...]

By bettyliedtke|March 7th, 2014|Buried Treasure, Columns, Family, Gifts and Talents, Writing|4 Comments

Letting go helps us to hold on

I spent last weekend at my dad’s house – the house that we moved into when I was nine years old, and that for me defines the word “home” when you talk about going home for the holidays. The main reason for the visit was to help celebrate my nephew’s 13th birthday on Saturday, and to attend the rock concert he was performing in that same day. He’s been taking guitar lessons for about four years, and every three or four months, the school arranges [...]

By bettyliedtke|February 28th, 2014|Columns, Family, Values|Comments Off

Be prepared — especially this winter

I slipped and fell while I was out running errands last weekend. Considering how much and how often it’s been snowing and freezing this winter, it’s probably surprising I haven’t taken a tumble long before now. As falls go, this one was pretty minor. It was a short slip, with a soft landing in a snowbank, which is a lot better than hitting the pavement or landing on the rock-hard asphalt of my driveway. I’ve done that a few times in winters past while going [...]

By bettyliedtke|February 21st, 2014|Columns|Comments Off

A gentle, wonderful man comes home

The world has lost a gentle and wonderful man. Most of the world never knew him, of course, and has no idea what a treasure he was – or how much he will be missed, and by how many people. But I do. After being healthy, active, and extremely social well into his 80’s, my father fell victim to a number of health issues and incidents that kept him either in the hospital or in a care center since early November. He passed away at [...]

By bettyliedtke|February 14th, 2014|Columns, Faith, Family|19 Comments

What’s going on in nighttime dreams?

I had an unsettling dream last week – not once, but twice. The dreams were very different from each other, but somewhat related. The common element was school, and in both of the dreams I found myself totally confused and unprepared. The first one was a common type of recurring dream. I was in college, and suddenly realized that it was the day before finals and I wasn’t ready. For one class, I wasn’t even sure where the classroom was. For another, I was flipping [...]

By bettyliedtke|January 31st, 2014|Columns|Comments Off

Lots of pieces make up the puzzle of our lives

One of the gifts I received this Christmas was a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle of Betty Boop. I’ve always been a Betty Boop fan and collector, and I love doing jigsaw puzzles. One of my fond childhood memories is of sitting at a card table set up in the living room, working on jigsaw puzzles with my mom, dad, and sisters. I started the Betty Boop puzzle on the weekend after New Year’s Day, setting it up in our family room and working on it while [...]

By bettyliedtke|January 24th, 2014|Buried Treasure, Coaching, Columns, Family, Uganda|Comments Off

A Ugandan dance troupe is coming to heat up Minnesota’s winter

Question: What do you get when you take a few dozen people who live just a bit north of the equator, and drop them off in Minnesota in the middle of January – and a January of record cold to boot? Answer: We’re about to find out. That may sound like the premise for a new reality show or the latest fish-out-of-water movie or sitcom, but it’s not. It’s what is going to happen tomorrow when around 20 members of the Uganda-based Kika Troupe visit [...]

By bettyliedtke|January 17th, 2014|Columns, Travel, Uganda|Comments Off

A classic story warms a chilly night

I went to see Fiddler on the Roof at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres Saturday night. There was something ironic about going to a show set in a Russian village when the temperature right outside our own home was ten degrees below zero. Still, the story is one that warms the heart. Watching the show on Saturday night, I was fine until they got to the song, “Sunrise, Sunset.” That’s when I started to get a little choked up. I was at the theatre with my [...]

By bettyliedtke|January 10th, 2014|Columns, Family|2 Comments

List of projects leads to fulfilling goals and dreams

“I focus easily and naturally on what is important and rewarding to me, and let go gently and comfortably of what is not. I am accomplishing my goals and fulfilling my dreams.” Whether you would call that an affirmation, a mantra, positive thinking, or wishful thinking, it’s something I’ve been saying to myself several times a day for a few months now. And the reason I’m telling you about it is that it relates so strongly to what I wrote last week. My column last [...]

By bettyliedtke|January 3rd, 2014|Accountability, Columns, Holidays, Organizing|Comments Off

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