Music embraces. Music consumes me, always has. I remember the small record player and a stack of plastic children’s records that I played over and over for hours. Around the age of five, I wanted a piano, a real piano, not the small toy version with only ten [...]
The first day of fall arrived in Southeast Texas this week, bringing mid-to-high ninety temperatures. I won’t be pulling out my sweaters anytime soon. What was I expecting? By now I should know that fall creeps past this part of the world, lingering into winter. The trees hold [...]
You borrow some. I collect words and ideas. Whenever I find a phrase, a sentence, or an entire paragraph that speaks to me, I write it down These snippets find their way on sticky notes, in my journal, Apple Notes, or an Excel file with over 1,200 entries. [...]
Welcome to August! The good? It’s my birthday month, and who doesn’t like to revel in a little celebration? I love everyone’s birthday, including my own, and August is full of special days in our family. The not-so-good? It’s hot. Notice, I didn’t write, “The bad.” How could [...]
Summed up into two words. I don’t remember when these two words first entered my vocabulary or when they became an obsession. The words circle my thoughts. Other times, they become an engine roaring, propelling me forward. I used those two words when I decided it was time to [...]
Today, freedom occupies my thoughts. Who is free? Who is not? Why not? What does it mean to belong to a country, a state, a community, to myself? I remember my visit to the United States National Archives, gazing in awe at the Declaration of Independence through the [...]
How does your garden grow? As I created a mental list of gardening chores for today, a nursery rhyme popped into my head: Mary, Mary, quite contrary How does your garden grow? With silver bells, and cockle shells, And pretty maids all in a row. That took me [...]
We have much to learn from trees. I have always marveled at how trees can bend nearly to the ground and survive. Living near the Gulf Coast, I’ve watched trees as they brave the fierce winds of a hurricane, their branches arching to the ground. A few limbs may [...]
My sister sent me a text. Not unusual, except for her request. Can you send me a recipe from Mom for chicken and dumplings? A simple, straightforward request, right? Our mother never wrote down the recipe. Her mother never wrote down the recipe. I have never written down the [...]
Living on the edge of her future, a six-year-old swayed in the spotlight of the sun. Her voice, clear and unwavering, belted out the song. Standing on the edge of the stage, she feared nothing and no one. I don’t remember the song, but I do remember the girl. The [...]
