I got new glasses this week. My prescription didn't change, but I wanted new frames that fit better and didn't keep getting in the way. When I picked them up, I expected to see exactly the same. For the most part, that was true; however the new frames brought some nuance and a slight change in depth perception, which I adapted to quickly. The world had not changed, my prescription had not changed, but the frame around it did. I've been turning that over for a couple days, wondering how...
4 days ago • 2 min read
I have something to tell you, and it's making me a little nervous even to type it: I’m going to a tap dance class. I wanted to do something that would get me out of the house, get me moving, and maybe make a friend or two along the way. I wanted a genuine, honest-to-goodness new thing, not a version of something I already know how to do. I had my first class this week. I was both excited and nervous as it drew near. I left early to make sure I could find the studio and get in on time. I stood...
11 days ago • 2 min read
I think we have a cat. A neighbor had to relocate for a year for work, and when others moved into his house, they had a dog. So the cat, which was sometimes an indoor, but mostly an outdoor cat, didn't have anyone to feed him. Being a very friendly and loving cat, many on our block set food out for him. However, he chose us to be his primary staff. Each morning he waits patiently outside the door for my husband to leave for work and feed him breakfast. In the afternoons, he waits for him to...
18 days ago • 2 min read
"Which is better, 1 or 2? How about now, 1 or 2? ...and A or B?" If these questions sound familiar, you've likely had your vision checked recently. For the last several years, the vision in my right eye has been improving. Every year or so, I would notice that I began to feel a little cross-eyed, or that I could see better when I closed my right eye. In the late evenings, as I got sleepy, I often found myself feeling better with my right eye closed. Inevitably, I would get my vision checked...
25 days ago • 2 min read
I've had one of those stretches - a run of days that were nothing but errands, customer service holds, and paperwork. Nothing dramatic. Nothing actually wrong. Just more involved than any of it should have been, one call bleeding into the next, one form needing one more signature than expected. I noticed something about myself in the middle of it: I would rather be chased down the street by a rabid fox than decipher and fill one more form or sit through one more phone tree asking me to state,...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Six pages. That's how long the report from our insurance company ran after the storm came through and worked over our house. I've picked up a whole new vocabulary: RC, which used to just be the soda I drank as a kid, now stands for Replacement Cost. ACV is Actual Cash Value. And "recoverable depreciation" is the money they hold back until you prove you actually did the work. I've learned that my insurance company's feelings about my house are not the same as my feelings about my house. Here's...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
I have become, to my surprise, hooked on the FIFA World Cup. It happened fast. One afternoon I turned it on for background noise and by the second half I was standing in my living room yelling at grown men in shin guards. I have watched fans paint their faces and lose their voices for eleven strangers wearing their colors. I watched a pack of Norwegian supporters take over a Mets game last week — flags, chants, the whole coordinated glory of it — while the Cubs quietly dismantled the home...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Last night I streamed an episode of a Star Trek spin-off series. The episode opened with a holographic character watching the sunrise. He says (through narration) that he's watched tens of thousands of these in the course of his life, and nothing about it is new to him anymore. He keeps watching, though, because soon everyone else will wake up, and for them, the sunrise will mean everything it always means to people who are tired and hoping - a chance, a reset, a reason to believe today might...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Sometimes the Beloved Community is plainly seen. We had another storm come through and there was damage to trees and houses. Sadly, many of the crops took a beating. Today, the morning after, as I connect with folks, I see God so clearly in the many ways we help and care for one another. People using social media to offer help. People checking on their neighbors. So many expressing gratitude that it wasn't worse. Many small actions that reveal what's underneath all the daily noise: the love...
2 months ago • 1 min read