I read today’s quote to my husband and asked, “What kind of image do you see with this quote? His immediate response: “The Iwo Jima Memorial.” Huh. Not what I was originally thinking of . . . but then it made sense. The Battle of Iwo Jima took place during World War II from the middle of February until almost …
In Others’ Words: Bruises
I bruised easily when I was a little girl. I’m not sure that I learned any significant lessons from those bruises — except maybe to walk a little slower when I climbed the stairs from my bedroom in the basement. Even now, I’ll knock into the corner of the coffee table and think, “That’s going to leave a bruise.” Lesson …
In Others’ Words: Bite Your Tongue
I wanted to let someone have it last night. And I know that person wanted to say a few … um … special words to me too. But I didn’t. I could feel the words banging on the back of my clenched teeth. I could almost see them forming in a cloud above my head. But I knew once I …
In Others’ Words: Breathing
I took breathing for granted until I developed asthma. I had years of inhaling and exhaling without giving it a second thought — I mean, isn’t respiration supposed to be automatic? And then, within months of my family’s move to Colorado, suddenly my chest got tight when I worked out at the gym. No big deal, right? I didn’t have …
In Others’ Words: Adversity
Whenever I think of Walt Disney, I think of Peter Pan and Tinker Bell and Cinderella and Snow White and happily-ever-afters and theme parks where you meet life-size characters and soar through the air on the Dumbo ride . . . you know, fun stuff! And then I read today’s quote and I thought, “Really? Walt Disney got kicked in …
In Others’ Words: Tomorrow and Today
Sometimes I wonder: Could I have done what Corrie ten Boom did? During World War II, she and her family were part of the Dutch underground — hiding, feeding and transporting Jews and other people hunted by the Nazi Gestapo out of the country. When her family was betrayed, they were separated and sent to concentration camps. Corrie and her …
In Others’ Words: Along the Path
Disclaimer: I stole today’s quote. Sort of. Let me explain. Sometimes I pick my quote for the day from my backlog of quotes. Sometimes none of those quotes “reverb” with me, and so I go skimming through the Internet topically or maybe I do a search of a particular person . . . You get the idea. Last night I …
In Others’ Words: Letting Go
Growing up, I never quite conquered the monkey bars. Seriously, I’m pretty certain I never once made it all the way across from one end to the other. Sometimes I’d get to the middle and just hang there until I let go and dropped. But there’s the lesson hidden in monkey bars: Life is all about letting go. I’ve grieved …
In Others’ Words: When You Can’t
There are days I wake up thinking about all the things I have to do — and how I probably won’t get them done. Of course, those are the days where I fell asleep the night before thinking about all the things I had to do when I woke up in the morning … and all the things I left …
In Others’ Words: You Are Here
Anybody else ever want a do-over? Anybody else wish there was a rewind button on life, just so you could go back five, maybe ten, seconds and make a different choice? (They worked that do-over concept into the movie Galaxy Quest, but the rewind button had a fancy name: Omega 13.) But I digress. Reality is, we rarely, if ever, …