My friend Cynde had a genius Facebook status the other day, one which sparked good conversation and got me thinking - she really helped crystallize something in my head which has been swirling around for a long time, specifically, what we call something, the words we use, make a difference in how we feel about …
Category: Life
I Sing a Song of Secretaries
It's great we have a day to recognize "Administrative Professionals" or, as they used to be known, Secretaries, and I always appreciated the efforts made to acknowledge my contributions as one. But just as one "aw shit" eradicates a thousand "atta girls", I will never forget how much it hurt the couple of times those …
National Siblings Day, Ambiguously
For two days my Facebook feed has been awash with friends posting pictures of their siblings, coupled with loving shout-outs to the brothers and sisters who irritated, annoyed, helped with, and shared their youth and parents. It's sweet. And normal, because I guess it's more the norm than being like me, an Only Child. And an …
If We Were Having Coffee…. Farmer’s Market Edition
If we were having coffee I'd totally get to make up for being such a downer last weekend, by telling you I got to have coffee this morning with this guy, who actually has today off, and it's a special day for us - we exchanged emails for the first time on April 9th, five …
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Dam Hearts
Our house is a five-minute drive from the largest man-made lake in South Carolina, Lake Murray, a reservoir fed by the Saluda River and across which is the Saluda Dam/Dreher Shoals Dam. A dream since the turn of the last century, the lake is named for the engineer, William S. Murray, who made it come true. It's …
Setting the World on Fire, One Flame at a Time
Once upon a time, in a far-away galaxy known as Southern California a little blonde-haired girl thought one day, she would set the world on fire. Her mother encouraged this, assuring her that if she were pretty enough, skinny enough, and okay, maybe also smart enough (like her cousin Randy, who got straight A's every …
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Spotlight/On the Turning Away
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." Never have Lord Acton's words resonated as much as while Paul and I were watching the terrific new film Spotlight. It's a must-see, but it is a difficult see, especially if you were brought up Roman Catholic, and especially-especially if you …
The Birds & Bees & Uncle Duane’s Chickens
The casual way TV sitcom characters talk about sex, all the time, in front of their TV sitcom children is something that never quite rings true to Paul and me, though it did have us laughing about our turns at bat delivering The Talk to our own respective children. My former brother- and sister-in-law kept chickens on …
The Curative Taco
Who knew that Kroger's at 4:00 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon is a freaking combat zone? Shouldn't all those pushy/oblivious/rude people be home watching football? Did they not see us carefully staying to our side of the aisle and could they not do the same, instead of stopping dead center while sending text messages? And what was …
An Open Letter to My Menopausal Brain
Dear Brain: It's been too long, really, since I've needed to address this concern. I don't believe you will be surprised by what I have to say and I hope we can come to some mutually-beneficial agreement. Remember, oh, forever? How we've always been a morning person? Up and at it early, ready to go, …
Southern Fried Californian 