@bethvogt A long-time wish came true for me two weeks ago. My family transformed the back corner of our yard into a hummingbird garden for me. It’s the barest beginnings of what will one day be a glorious garden with a ceramic bird birth, complete with a solar powered water fountain, two feeders, and yes, the proper plants and …
Quotes Worth Remembering from a Commencement Conversation for the Class of 2020
@bethvogt I attended a graduation ceremony on Monday. It was a virtual ceremony, hosted by actor John Krasinski, via his Some Good News (SGN) YouTube channel. One of the fun things about the ceremony? People were graduating from kindergarten right on up through college, all across the globe. I also loved how, while John highlighted several valedictorians, he opted out …
Choose One Word to Change You in the New Year
As 2019 wound down and the new year – and the new decade – approached, I gathered words. One Words, to be exact. Let me back up. Many of you might be concentrating on a list of resolutions for 2020, but I abandoned that practice 14 years ago. Instead, I choose One Word for the year and center my heart …
Three Things to Consider as You Graduate from High School
Graduate — and Keep Dreaming @bethvogt My youngest daughter graduates from high school on Friday. Christa is my caboose kiddo. She was born 12 ½ years after my husband Rob and I were finished having children, when her older siblings were 17, 14 and 12. Her arrival was one of those unexpected blessings of life that initially make you think, …
Success is not Who We Are
Know Your Values to Succeed by @bethvogt Success is serious business to a lot of people – to just about everyone. People spend a lot of time defining success. Redefining it. Pursuing it. Achieving it. Set your sights on any sort of goal – academic, athletic, creative – and the question pops up in some form or another: Are …
Who Do You Think You Are?
Learning to Value Ourselves More by @bethvogt I didn’t participate in school sports. Oh, sure, I played the required PE activities where you wait to get picked for a team, hoping you’re not last. And I remember the games of kickball and dodgeball during recess in elementary school – back when schools allowed kids to play dodgeball. Kicking a …
In Others’ Words: The Importance of Protecting Our Dreams
Confronting Our Doubts @BethVogt We all chase after dreams. During our childhood, the simplest of questions may spark a dream: What do you want to be when you grow up? Pause for a moment and let’s remember that oh-so-much-younger us. The one who didn’t hesitate to believe we could become a ballerina. Or an astronaut. Or a dolphin trainer. …
In Others’ Words: The Importance of Dreams
Someone came up to me the other day and said, “I didn’t know you were an author!” I smiled and said, “Yes, I am.” Whenever someone says something like this to me, I pause and remember I’m living my dream. This crazy, challenging, some-days-I’m-not-sure-I can-do-it career? It’s my childhood dream come true. And sometimes, I forget it all started because …
In Others’ Words: Make a Wish
Wishes can come true … … but only if you stop wishing and do something about them. How’s that for a practical thought to start your day? And yes, there’s a certain energy to wishes and dreams … a creative buzz, if you will. Dreaming isn’t a waste of time unless that’s all we ever do. Dreams are meant to …
In Others’ Words: Taking Two with Erma Bombeck
Today would have been Erma Bombeck’s 90th birthday. I’ve always enjoyed her humorous — and truthful — view of life. So, I’m celebrating this wonderful writer today by posting not one, but two of her quotes. I’m keeping today’s post brief, after spending the past four days in Phoenix, cheering my youngest daughter’s volleyball team on while they competed at …