The two greatest gifts you can give
It snowed early this morning, but the dogs insisted on a walk anyway. We made the usual rounds in the neighborhood, sidestepping puddles and ice.
Sunshine glinting off pockets of snow peppered the distant mountains. Dark and light grey clouds hovered overhead. There was a chilly but invigorating breeze.
Do you know how to matter less and smile more?
I used to wonder if my Dad’s old truck had a soul.
It certainly had character, with its dents, scuffs, and temperamental stick shift. Who knows what stories and exploits lay behind the truck’s dilapidated exterior.
Dad was no longer a spring chicken when he bought the old truck. He…
Do you know what the true value of jewelry is?
Even at the end, she wore a glittery hair clip.
She may have been unconscious, navigating the mysterious landscape between this world and the next, but her motionless and petite frame was ever the fashion plate. …
What a famed photographer has to say about success
We assembled inside a barn-like structure a short distance from his beautiful, 10,000 square foot Craftsman art studio.
It was my first time in Idaho. The air was crisp and the scenery looked just like the artist’s beautiful paintings.
The artist was Scott L. Christensen, and I was there for…
The place where the light enters you
We surrounded the man’s mobile home, evacuated the neighbors, and were waiting for the tactical team to get into position.
Our hostage negotiation detectives managed to get a “throw phone” into the rear of the man’s home, in the hopes he would pick it up and talk to us.
Sadly…
It’s the simplest way to change our life, but we avoid it
My love affair with handwriting, stationery, and the epistolary arts has been an obsession bordering on mental illness.
I have my father to thank, or perhaps blame.
Growing up, I often found Dad at the family room table, writing legal decisions with his Parker 21 fountain pen in perfect, copperplate…
How the culture of open options is making us miserable
Raise your hand if this sounds familiar. You and your honey decide to spend the evening watching a Netflix movie. But then you spend forever browsing through selections and trailers, and now it’s time for bed.
According to the author Pete Davis, you fell victim to “Infinite Browsing.” We are…
How trees taught me to help other people
The pathway began at the edge of our backyard, leading into the shadows and solitude of the deep woods.
It was nothing more than a well-trodden deer trail, yet it became an escape route from the frustrations and uncertainties of life.
The path opened up to a cluster of tall…
It’s about the effort, not the outcome
I blame it all on the evening breeze.
If not for that late afternoon gust of wind, the note beneath my driver’s side windshield wiper would never have flicked up, catching my attention.
I would have driven home, and the rainstorm that arrived later that evening would surely have disintegrated…
5 things to help you get to the next level
There are three words I see all the time online that make me want to stick a pencil in my eye.
The reason I dislike these three words is that they prevent people from growing creatively. What are the three words?
Grow your audience
The dawn of social media birthed…
