It’s Halloween weekend. Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, which is the best day of the week for trick-or-treating, although the streets won’t be filled with nearly as many ghosts, goblins, spirits, and superheroes this year as they normally would. Still, it’s a scary time of year – more so this year than most, for a variety of reasons. This is also the best time of year for scary movies. My husband and I just finished watching The Haunting of Bly Manor, which we [...]
One day many years ago, I was going through some old files at work and came across one labeled “Women in Labor.” It caught my eye, mainly because I was pregnant with my first child at the time. The file had nothing to do with delivering babies, however. At the time, I was working in the Communications Department of a labor union, and the file was part of a collection of research and background information on stories for articles and newsletters on different aspects of [...]
For some reason, all day yesterday – Thursday – it felt to me like it was Friday. That used to happen often on days right before or after holidays or vacations, but not since we retired and moved to Georgia three years ago, when there was no longer much difference between weekdays and weekends. And it certainly hasn’t happened since stay-at-home guidelines went into effect in mid-March. I can’t attribute the feeling to the 4th of July weekend coming up, because holidays going back as [...]
“It’s amazing, after not connecting, in some cases for 20+ years, how much has changed. But in some ways, it’s stayed the same. I guess that’s friendship.” That was a statement in an email from one of my “old college buds” after we had a reunion via Zoom a few nights ago. I couldn’t have said it better myself. We were a group of friends who met in college, and stayed close even after graduating within a few years of each other in the early- to [...]
“Creative Coping” was the theme of our Toastmasters meeting the other night. I think that’s a good description of all of our lives right now. (Our meetings, by the way, are held online via Zoom for the time being, which is how we are creatively coping with stay-at-home orders and guidelines.) Day by day and week by week, we’re all finding and implementing new ways to cope with the restrictions meant to keep us safe and to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Along the [...]
A tradition is, by definition, something that is repeated year after year. Even so, traditions change over time. Kids grow up and go off on their own, families that used to live within a few miles of each other are now spread out across the country, and lifestyles of days gone by simply don’t fit our way of life anymore. Easter, like Christmas, has both sacred and secular traditions, and I now find myself thinking about all the Easter traditions I have taken part in [...]
I took part in an Open Mic Poetry Reading last night that was co-sponsored by the Georgia Writers Museum and our local library. The event was to include a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. and others who have been influences in our lives. I took the occasion as a challenge to write a poem inspired by Martin Luther King, and by the time I was done I realized that his message – and especially his “I have a dream” speech – may be even [...]
“Focus.” That’s the word that’s now printed in large letters on the bulletin board behind my desk, and it’s the word I’m going to try to incorporate into my thoughts and actions during the coming year. The idea for this came from a video I received last week from some friends who publish a blog called “Sharing Life’s Lessons.” In the video, they talked about New Year’s Resolutions, and ways to make them more successful. They also talked about the book, One Word That Will [...]
We’re three days into the new year, and my New Year’s Resolution is still going strong. And, since it involves weekly projects – and the first one’s already done – it will still be intact for at least another few days. Actually, I expect it to stay alive and well for a lot longer – hopefully throughout the entire year. It’s a variation on other New Year’s Resolutions I’ve made in the past when my focus has been organizing and decluttering. This year, I decided [...]