Good Grief

There’s no right way to grieve people say. To people who are grieving I say There’s no one right way to grieve. I am unsure if people mean it when they say it or if they are just offering encouragement. What I am sure of is that after seeing countless family and friends grieve people…

America the Great

In the last week I have watched two documentary series about 9/11, and the thing that sticks in my mind above all else is how much we’re capable of coming together. Of helping people, while not even thinking about differences. We can just be good humans and good neighbors. If we could just figure out…

Goodnight Moon

This week seems to be all about the moon. Full moon. Blood moon. Super flower moon. Moonbin rode a bike with training wheels (social media makes us dumber). And I even came back across the moon walk episode of The Crown. The moon can somehow be mysterious and comforting and ominous all in one week,…

Winter of our Quarantine

It’s been the longest winter ever. The winter of our discontent, you might say, even though I don’t have fond memories of that book. Months of cold and rainy weather. A crazy election. Half of America acting like we’re not in a pandemic and now half a million people in our country are gone. Steinbeck’s…

Blessings in Formica

Back in 1946, when my Mom thinks my great Aunt Jean and Uncle Dale got this formica table, I’m certain they never imagined that almost 75 years later their great great niece Audrey (Little Bit) would have this thing called a laptop sitting on it, and would be using it as a desk for virtual…

Compass or Baggage

Love is never ever ever selfish. Love is never present when there are excuses or narratives or explanations. Love does not coexist with those things. Love is black and white in terms of its presence. It's either evident or it is absent. If a person's behavior is selfish, the only love involved is the individual's…

City Management

I manage a city. I manage a city, and I have every job within the city. When things go awry with my children or their friends, or even with kids at school they don’t really know, I am on the other end of the 9-1-1 call. My job is to ask just enough questions to…

What is Winning?

  You win. #winning. Win-Win. What does it mean to win? Outside of sports, where there are clearly defined rules and generally a person or team has a better score, what does it mean to win? Search Twitter for #winning and you’ll quickly see that winning is political and we have redefined it as proving…

There Is Only One Me

There is only one me. I say it all the time in my head when there’s just too much. I occasionally say it out loud when multiple people are talking to me at the same time. There is only one me. I can only be in one meeting at a time, in one place at…

Refurbish, Brave Girl

I hate messes. I don’t like sand in my car, I don’t like PlayDough that gets stuck in toys supposedly designed for PlayDough, I don’t buy glitter or powder or terrariums if I can help it, and I don’t like substances like Desitin or vegetable oil that are really hard to clean off of things.…