Every year I come careening into summer vacation at the breakneck speed of May, and then splat on the sidewalk of June, not entirely unlike a bug splayed on a car windshield. It takes a week or three to get my summer legs underneath me as we recover and ease into some semblance of summer routine. So here I am, posting this more than two weeks later than I had planned. But honestly, besides just being a bit off kilter,…
I don’t remember when we actually crossed the threshold from May-is-a-normal-month to May-is-as-crazy-busy-as-December. All I know is that the struggle is real. In an effort to distribute the heavy load of May, it seems like the pace of April has also gradually increased, akin to how Black Friday now spans closer to a month than a single day in November. So maybe it’s no coincidence that gratitude is what came to mind when I was pondering about what simple gift…
For part of high school, I was a cheerleader. During that season of life, cheerleading looked like practicing cheers and stunts daily after school and during the summer, suiting up to cheer at games a few times a week, tumbling classes, and team competitions. I haven’t cheered like that for decades, but we all have opportunities to be cheerleaders all the time. It doesn’t require a uniform, a back handspring, or a love of sports. However, it might include dedicating…
Recently, a friend texted me a generous compliment a full week after the event that prompted it. Another friend, recalling some personal aspirations of mine, thought to send me information about an opportunity that I might be interested in. A friendly proprietor remembered my name and a detail about me after only one previous visit to their business. A neighbor made my daughter’s day with an unexpected thank you gift since my child had rendered a small service for their…
Yesterday would have been my grandma’s 100th birthday. If you could have asked her, she never would have suggested that she was particularly extraordinary, which is a shame. About a gazillion people showed up at her funeral, demonstrating otherwise. They were there because of the way she loved them. My grandma was always loving, serving, taking interest in, and taking time for a conversation with people. Family. Friends. Neighbors. Store clerks. Restaurant staff. The masked intruder who broke…