We had another track meet yesterday. A lot of places were traded in the last 10 feet. (Not always 1st/2nd.) Most kids ran hard all the way through. But a fair number of kids pulled up before the finish line. Missed out on a last-minute take or were taken just before the line. As anyone … Read more
The following popped up in my Facebook memories: The crap this morning reminded me that while I am privileged enough to choose not to be here next year…or even just not to be in this neighborhood in the evenings and on the weekends…my kids here don’t have that choice. I didn’t earn this life. It … Read more
You run. It doesn’t matter if you run fast or not. (It doesn’t matter how you define “fast.”) It doesn’t matter if you run short distances, long distances, or crazy long distances. It doesn’t matter what your body shape is. We sometimes have trouble giving ourselves a label when we feel like we’re “less than” … Read more
I don’t remember the conversation at all, but I do remember at one point in college telling a vegetarian friend of mine that I wasn’t into “all that healthy shit.” Times have changed. For me at that point, there was no draw to the healthy stuff. It wasn’t a defense mechanism—at least not one that … Read more
I’ve talked to so many people who have lost weight (intentionally) and kept their now-too-big pants “just in case.” If keeping the weight off is a priority, get rid of the pants (or get them tailored to fit). By keeping the pants, you’re giving yourself permission to gain the weight back. (The exception would be … Read more
Many people believe that suicide is wrong. (Fortunately, the grey area on that is growing…but that’s not the point of today’s post.) Many religions profess that killing—oneself or others—is wrong. So here’s my question: why does the timeline matter? I don’t hear people speaking out against American health habits as a pro-life argument. But if … Read more
One last one (for now) on spending money and having stuff. (Budgets and smarter spending came before.) It’s worth it to spend more money for good quality that will last longer, though it’s not always easy to tell what is better quality and what just costs more. And borrow or rent instead of buying things … Read more
While writing yesterday’s post, I started on a tangent about the process of accumulating stuff and decided to develop it into its own post. Even as a person who is not big on shopping and has done multiple purges of stuff over the last bunch of years, I still have too much stuff. Some of … Read more
So … this is likely to ruffle some feathers, but that’s how things go sometimes. (I’m always amazed at things that ruffle feathers—this one, at least, won’t catch me off guard.) There’s been a lot of media attention to teachers’ salaries, and it’s rightly deserved. We’re not appropriately paid for the work we do. Lots … Read more
Yesterday was a fun little milestone day. Yesterday was my 100th post! Yesterday was also the end of my third month of one post per day! It’s been fun. Occasionally stressful. But it’s good to be writing on a regular basis, even if some posts are better than others. Here were the most popular posts … Read more