We look up and wonder where the years have gone. We glance at pictures, at our lanky teens, at our own furrowed brows reflected in the mirror and we feel the weight of our years. Midlife isn’t what we once envisioned. Then again, it just may be better. There may be new opportunities, if we’re […]
Bah, Humbug. Pass the Soup.
It was gorgeous, clear, and mild. It was a heavenly drive, as I made an early morning trek to the Farmer’s Market – fall foliage ablaze with reds and golden yellows. Until. Until a short stretch of road through a small but bustling commercial area, complete with iron lamp posts decorated in shiny bows, berry-bedecked wreaths, […]
Teaching The Teacher In All Of Us
In my marketing days, I was taught to present the benefits of the product, service, or idea I represented. It may be effective in the short-term to utilize scare tactics, but for the sake of long-term success, it’s important to address genuine needs with real solutions. And you’d be wise to explain why and how […]
The Plague
From The Plague, by Albert Camus: I see no need to dwell on the manner of loving in our town. The men and women consume each other rapidly in what is called ‘the act of love’, or else settle down to a mild habit of conjugality… for lack of time and thinking, people have to […]
Hope Floats
It is a Sandra Bullock movie released in 1998 – Hope Floats – with a predictable plot, but not without its charms. A married mother of a young daughter finds out hubby is cheating and he wants out. As the divorce proceeds, she takes her child and heads home to a small Texas town, where […]
Why “Learning” May Be Nuts
I am a proponent of learning in all its forms: I examine the past to learn from it, I believe in introspection to encourage positive change, I look forward as well as outward, so I may shape the present to achieve a desired future. I acquire knowledge for its own sake. I acquire knowledge so […]
Safe Crossing
I once felt safe in the deepest caverns of my body. I was strong, I was agile, I was in possession of endless stamina. I felt the immortality of youth, as do we all. I once felt safe in a place called Marriage. I was misguided in my choices and my beliefs, and now the […]
Missing Moguls, Tales of Taxes, Staggering Statistics
This one caught my eye the other evening – the reappearance of former Computerland CEO William Millard, and the apparent cat-and-mouse game to hunt him down and collect some $100 million in taxes. I’m not entirely sure why these mysteries fascinate me, though certainly the larger-than-life personalities have much to do with it, including the […]
Not A Cloud In Sight
The sky is blue. Not a cloud in sight. The neighborhood is silent except for the swell and retreat of cicadas in song, the occasional barking of fenced-in dogs, the passing of a car in no particular hurry. A private plane overhead banks and soars. The air is surprisingly sweet and fresh, as though some […]
Why Reading This Doesn’t Matter a Damn
Every little thought. Every little detail. Every. Single. Word. Does it matter, really? What we say and why we say it? What we write and our motivations for doing so? Who’s reading? Who’s not reading? Why do we think that each statement or question we put to ourselves is of interest to anyone else? Why […]