"The time is ripe for looking back over the day, the week, the year, and trying to figure out where we have come from and where we are going to, for sifting through the things we have done and the things we have left undone for a clue to who we are and who, for better or worse, we are becoming." Frederick Buechner At the close of each season, my friend Emily P. Freeman invites us to take a look back and share what we learned over at her house. Before we head into sunshiny summer, let's take Continue Reading

Last summer when I was riding my new birthday bike on a trail in the woods, I was reminded of the value of stopping every so often and looking back where you have been. When our only markers for getting home are rocks, trees, and turns in the trail, we need to see the path from different vantage points. Plus, we can catch my breath and ask each other, "Did you just see that?"(chipmunk, owl, deer). That is what these "What We Learned this (Season)" posts with Emily P. Freeman are all about. We are Continue Reading

At the close of each season, I take a look back to see what I have discovered and what might be helpful to you in some way if I shared it. My lessons might be big or small, funny or profound. Maybe you can find yourself in one of them and say, "Me too!" I do this in a community of writers over at Emily P. Freeman's home on the world wide web. Here is what I learned this summer of 2017. Fitting in is different than belonging. Have you ever found yourself trying too hard to fit Continue Reading

"Instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it." Mary Oliver Dirt has drawn a breath and awakened the seed. On my morning walks this spring, first I saw tulip trees and candy tuft. Now with summer just around the fencepost, I see allium and bunches of deep purple irises, lithe in the wind. The dogwood tree is blooming outside my kitchen window and the lilac sings as I brush by on my way into the garage. All around town, spring has deepened into a hint of summer. Before we settle into longer rays of Continue Reading