Schools in this area have an evacuation site. If, for whatever reason the whole school needed to be evacuated, where would we all go? At my first job in Arizona, the steak house was mentioned. New to the local area and vegetarian, I couldn’t think of any steak houses nearby … and also thought that … Read more
Today’s post is full of broad sweeping statements. Of course they are not true for every individual in every category. But I’m not going to make a disclaimer in every paragraph because it’s unwieldy to read. Many companies are introducing (or have already introduced) wellness incentive plans regarding various biomarkers of their employees (with questionable … Read more
Apologies. We tend not to be good at them. We tend to force children to mutter them insincerely. We get in the habit of muttering them insincerely, if we mutter them at all. The first place I heard an excellent, clear explanation of what an apology should be was in Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture at … Read more
Individual stories are where real emotional power lies. I mean, that 3,000 people were killed is quite something. That millions were killed in WWII is staggering. They’re numbers. They’re big numbers. They’re easy to wield, hard to comprehend. “A single death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic.” Stories? Those are where power … Read more
The summer before I left for college, one of my aunts took me out for lunch. Part of her message to me that day was: things don’t always go according to plan. Plan accordingly. Somewhere in her early 20s, a year-ish after she was first married, her husband died. Brain tumor, maybe? I don’t remember … Read more
As a person who grew up on the straight and narrow with impressively judgmental parents, there are some things that have taken time for me to stop judging. (There are others I’m still working on…) Some brilliant advice I read somewhere a long time ago: instead of seeing or hearing about someone/something and saying, “that’s … Read more
Thanksgiving. Natural disasters. Christmas. Man-made disasters. Toys. Food. Clothes. Household items. Socks. Diapers. Toiletries. There are always people in need. There are times when, as an outsider, it seems more dire. And so, we have stuff drives. My request to you—and it’s definitely not an original to me—is to be mindful with your donations. The … Read more
The Climbing Daddy needed a run. I wanted to take pictures of some of the fantastic thunderheads we had that day. We went to a local park with small mountains/big rocks where he ran, I photographed, and we were both happy. (Thunderheads are big, puffy clouds that are common during monsoon season here.) I got … Read more
I have a student who has been playing an instrument for a week. He came to class completely disheartened and said, “My uncle said I’m never going to be able to play this.” Don’t be that uncle. Of course the kid is struggling and sounds terrible right now. He’s been playing for a week. Instruments … Read more
When someone dies, those close to the deceased have an onslaught of well-wishers. When someone is diagnosed with cancer or another critical health issue, they have a similar herd of well-wishers. When someone has another unfortunate life event, they have immediate help and concern. The thing is … the support dies off well before needed … Read more