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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]