Baby Blues at the Gym
When I get on the treadmill at the health club, I don’t pay much attention to the people around me, other than to nod in greeting if they happen to glance over as I’m getting on or off. So I didn’t notice anything unusual about the young woman on the machine next to mine until someone else walked by and started talking to her, congratulating her on her new baby and saying how great it was that she brought him [...]
An old song and a new concern
“Sometimes, all I need is the air that I breathe, and to love you.” That’s a line from an old song by the Hollies, recorded back in the ’70s. I can’t remember the last time I heard the song on the radio, but that line popped into my head recently. And though it comes from the chorus of a love song, I started thinking about it in relation to something that is not nearly as romantic and that has been [...]
Looking forward to brighter days
As you probably know, I’m a look-at-the-bright-side, if-life-gives-you-lemons-make-lemonade kind of person – in my real life, and also in my writing. But yesterday, as I was trying to write my blog for this week, I was having more trouble than usual seeing any “bright side” in the world right now. A new, deadly virus that originated in China has killed hundreds of people and is starting to spread across the globe. Every day brings news of more cases and casualties, [...]
The Best Response
“Feel the fear, and do it anyway.” That was the theme of a Toastmasters meeting I attended on Friday. It was a demo meeting at a company in Augusta that is planning to sponsor a new Toastmasters club for employees, and I was part of the team providing a demonstration of what a Toastmasters meeting is like. “Feel the fear, and do it anyway” could easily be a motto for Toastmasters in general, since public speaking is one of the [...]
Does Not Compute
You know that feeling you get when the electricity goes out during a storm, and stays out for more than a few hours? That disoriented feeling as you try to remember not to open the refrigerator more than absolutely necessary, when you shake your head as you walk into a different room and flick on the light switch from force of habit even though you’re holding a flashlight in your other hand, and when you start to wonder – especially [...]