Less Stuff, More Life

Less Stuff, More Life

One year ago this month, we held a public auction and sold most of our earthly goods. The pandemic taught us we didn’t want to grow old living so far from our children and grandchildren. Since the majority of them live in Nebraska, we pulled up stakes and...

I Don’t Feel Eighteen Anymore

When we had been married 25 years, I remember walking through the house at night and wondering how I could possibly have this home, this husband, and all those teenagers sleeping upstairs. I felt like an eighteen-year-old most of the time. This year, my nighttime...

All My Love to Flora

This is how my mind works. I noticed today is National Library Workers Day, and I immediately wanted to give a shout-out to Flora the Librarian. I wanted to send her flowers or write a sweet card. I wanted to swing by the Clarion Lake Library and thank her for being...

Don’t Edit the Bad Stuff

Sometimes, life gets hard. Mistakes are made. People fail. Bad stuff happens. Or, to say it more poetically, “Into each life some rain must fall,” Longfellow While preparing to speak at a college fundraiser, Wendell and I have gone back through thirty...
Easter Makes Me Homesick

Easter Makes Me Homesick

Easter always makes me feel a little homesick, and this year the emotion is strong. At first, I thought it was because I miss my dad who is in Heaven. He was the master of epic family egg hunts. Or my mother, who is too many miles away from our new town. She always...