Category Archives: Writing

Splaining

I’ve decided the term mansplaining needs to lose the gender reference. Yes, men do it, but women do it too: So it’s not mansplaining, it’s just splaining.

Once upon a time, on an otherwise beautiful day in mid-March as people in one hemisphere were starting their days and those in the other were readying for bed, an event occurred that affected the entire solar system.

Anticipation

Last week I got an email from FedEx saying that they were going to deliver a package from Harry David. Harry David — that rang a bell. Yes: Harry & David! They are a wonderful online store (catalog, in the olden days) where you could order high-quality gift baskets of fine nuts, fruits, and other goodies to have… Read More »

Afterlife

Whether from living in the horror-show of 2020 or because of the recent death of my father, my thoughts have been tending recently toward deeper topics than usual. Lately I’ve been thinking abut the nature of consciousness. In that context, this quote from Shakespeare’s Macbeth came up in a conversation the other day: Life is but a walking… Read More »

Nature’s mandala

The other day I saw a huge, completely concentric, perfectly spiraled spiderweb right outside my kitchen window. In the center of this minor masterpiece was a large brown striped spider, hanging in the middle to wait for his prey.

Everything happens for a reason: NOT

Like many people, I truly believe that everything happens for a reason. And that reason is … so you can use the experience to spark creative ideas. … so you can deepen your capacity for compassion. … so you can add to your catalog of experiences. … so you can appreciate the things you have. … so you… Read More »

The Coffee Scoop

My sister, Cindy, and I live on opposite ends of the country and rarely see each other. When my mother died in the Autumn of 2001, we each packed our bags and headed to Mom’s condo in Arizona. There we spent a week together to arrange and hold Mom’s memorial and to empty the place out. We needed… Read More »

Society’s wasted potential

My mind broke a little bit today. Unable to sleep in the wee hours this morning, I [foolishly] picked up my phone and was browsing through Facebook when I came upon a post that put into words something that I have very worriedly obsessed over for years. This thing has seemed so big, so unanswerable, that it has… Read More »

The lasting effect of kindness

Recently I came across a document that is meaningful to me in several ways: the divorce document from January 1987 that finally ended my first marriage. As I held the papers in my hands, I smiled as it brought to mind something that, at first glance, seems unrelated.

Eagle demonstration

A number of years ago, my brother and I were driving toward town in Ilwaco, Washington. It was a crisp early-Autumn morning, and the sun was positioned just right so that everything was backlit. Just as we pulled up to a stop sign, a bald eagle swooped low in the sky in front of our car.

My spatial idiocy

Nothing spatial is intuitive for me. Up or down, above or below are clear. But when I encounter left or right, clockwise or counter-clockwise, east or west — I have to put intense effort into matching the word with a direction.

Simple thoughts about the end of everything

Today I am pondering the potential for the recycling of the universe. We know that the universe has been expanding from the instant of the big bang, and we also know (well, theorize) that this expansion is accelerating.

You are more than your name

Anybody who is the primary or even just frequent caregiver for a loved one with Alzheimer’s will eventually experience the day when he no longer knows your name.

Waiting to die

In the mid 20-teens, my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. By that time he was already starting to have mental slip-ups, enough that when he received the diagnosis, he seemed to promptly forget it. After twice having to tell him that he had the disease, my stepmom decided that maybe he didn’t need the reminders and just… Read More »

Uncle Swen and the Doll

Between my mother and father, I had seven aunts and uncles: fourteen if you include their spouses. My folks moved across the country from Minnesota to California long before I was born and were strangely withdrawn from the families they had left behind. So even though I had a vast army of aunts, uncles, and cousins in the… Read More »