I can hear Janis Joplin’s raspy voice as she belts out, “Freedom's just another word for nothin’ left to lose.” I've been thinking about freedom, what we have to lose, and how we can choose to see beyond ourselves. What does it mean to be free? Why do some have [...]
Song lyrics often stick in my brain, refusing to let go of the never-ending loop of melody and words. Like these: You’ve got to give a little, take a little, and let your poor heart break a little. That’s the story of, that’s the glory of love. Billy Hill [...]
In the dark, I stared at the phone. Please don’t ring. We left our small, helpless newborn in the neonatal ICU. He struggled to stay alive with every breath. “The next 48 to 72 hours will be the most critical. If his lungs develop in that time, his prospects [...]
When my children sat in a puddle of tears or pouted over the unfairness of cleaning a mess, I gave them my go-to response: “Where’s your happy face?” I didn’t dismiss their frustration or sadness because I wasn’t compassionate, although they might have disagreed. But because so much [...]
I have a soft spot for birthdays. That day you enter the world, new, soft, and loved. You often hear, “Live each day as if it was your last.” Suleika Jaouad, author, musician, and artist, believes that is terrible advice. As she faced overcoming, more than once, and [...]
My grandma lived through two world wars, the Great Depression, and hot summers in South Texas. Not once did I hear her complain or whine about her endless daily chores of milking cows, tending chickens, or baking bread. I watched Grandma do all those things and more, but [...]
The light blue Princess phone waits on the repainted bedside table surrounded by paperback novels, scraps of poems, and the peacock blue ballpoint pen. The remnants of the distant life of a quiet, teenage girl. The phone speaks . . . a ring so quiet you might not [...]
I had an imaginary conversation with a five-year-old: Me: “What are your hobbies?” Child: “Hm?” Me: “Well, what do you do when you’re not at school?” Child: “Play! But I play at school, too.” Have you ever asked a child to list their hobbies? Probably not. Adults usually [...]
Smells. What do they conjure, and why do they trigger a moment in time? My nose perked up reading an article by Margaret Talbot, “Remembrances of Scents Past.” She wrote about a new exhibit at the British Library in London allowing visitors to experience the scents of thirteenth-century [...]
I started the day with a simple task. Call the bank. All I wanted to do—talk to a real, live, breathing, speaking human. I did not want to read the FAQ or talk to Alfred, the non-entity chatbot who could only respond to questions in the FAQ. My [...]
