Where seeds of thought have room to grow
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Category: Playing with words
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I started a gratitude journal this week… an idea I stole from my friend Nancy. I've kept one before, making lists of the things I'm grateful for each day, but I get too busy or too distracted and the next thing you know it's been months since I've taken the time to write them down.…
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It's hard to believe, but today is the second anniversary of my blog! I'm hanging out in a college computer lab, passing the time until the Girl gets out of her hours-long summer Physics class. I'm her chauffeur since we're down to just two working vehicles; the other 7 or so are just for decoration.…
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Sitting low on the horizon, the rust-tinted full moon kept me company all the way home from the grocery store last night. And there he was again this morning, sitting on the railing right outside the French doors, waiting for me it seemed. Full moons mesmerize me. I could spend hours just sitting still, staring…
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Stand still, planted in the meadow. Breathe in. Breathe out. Listen. Hear the birds kreee-kreee across the pond, Belle and Max munching grass near my feet. Feel the minute. Close my eyes and really feel it… feel my heartbeat counting off the seconds… "On the tightrope of life, only one thing allows us to move…
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It's sad – very sad – but I made sure I left my parents' house by 1:30 this afternoon so I could be home in time to watch the whole LOST finale. My son Tommy doesn't understand our fascination with LOST – he says it's silly, that they never answer any questions, just keep…
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I owe my kids an apology. I implied in XOXO Nina Barbara that they were slackers in the Mother's Day department. I didn't intend to, but nonetheless, reading back over it now, I understand why my sweet Tommy slipped a pressed flower into the card he sent me with a note explaining "I couldn't let…
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Tom turned 53 today. If you've read much of my blog, you know I never take birthdays for granted, but I'm especially grateful for each one of his we get to celebrate. I've spent too many hours sitting in hospital waiting rooms praying for him … come too close to losing him too many times.…
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I talk to high school students every year who are preparing to take the AP exams or write college entrance essays. I tell them "Make every word count. Read back over what you've written and if there's an adverb, yank it out and use a better verb. If you see "is", yank it out and…
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In other words, is there someone in your life who brings out the best in you? Someone who makes you better in some way? Now, once you've thought of someone in particular, try to explain how this person makes you better … That was easier said than done for me, when BlogHer asked me to…
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She treats me like a celebrity, this woman. No…scratch that. She makes me feel like a celebrity. Every year, for the past nine or ten years, she has invited me into her classroom to talk to her juniors, her AP English Language students, about writing. If for some reason our schedules don't mesh, she has…
Long Hollow 