Have A Spectacular Christmas

“Back in the day, I didn’t realize I’d have to tell this story so many times,” he said. “You come home from work every day and have all the stories and mine doesn’t compare to those. It’s not like the ones you write on your blog.” “But it’s YOURS,” said I. “I need to know…

Choose joy.  Some days, it’s easy. Choose joy in fingers dipped in paint.  Choose joy in little nuggets of artwork created by little gems of people.  Choose joy in rainy days filled with yellow flowers and smiling children.  Choose joy in globs of paint in blonde hair. It’s easy to smile when creating artwork and…

Arizona has been long cherished in my heart of hearts:  the huge sky gives my soul room to breathe, the morning birds sing a familiar only-in-African tune, the year-round wall of warm air outside every door is delightful.   My college roommate lives in Phoenix.  My brother lives in Tucson. My cheerleader-adopted-mom lives in Yuma….

My kitchen plumbing died tonight.  Hyperbolic, maybe.  Traumatic, definitely.  Instead of triumphantly washing those pots (you know the ones — the ones that “just need to soak a bit” . . . . and have been “just soaking a bit” for a month of Sundays) before collapsing in a heap of Mondaynightness, I ended up on…

I stood in the middle of a barn, meeting a horse worth more than any car I will *ever* own and learning about what it takes to own a horse farm (while wiping sweat from my forehead and swatting flies away), and realized how blessed I am. Yes, blessed. (Despite the sweat and flies).  I…