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Nature’s Quaking Trampoline
My five and seven-year-old grandsons take me out for a paddle boat ride on our cabin’s northern Wisconsin lake. The five-year-old spies a neighbor’s blown-up orange and yellow plastic raft that is also a trampoline. “Can we bounce on that?” he asks. I have to explain that it isn’t ours and tell him no. His […]
The Power of Story
“The tooth must be extracted,” my dentist said, “and because of how the roots are way up in the sinuses and its location, it will be complicated. I’m referring you to the oral surgeon.” I was in pain and when I called to make the appointment, I couldn’t get in for several weeks. I wanted […]
Celebrating Small Things in a Great Way
Celebrating Small Things in a Great Way “If you can’t do great things, do small things in a great way. Don’t wait for great opportunities. Seize common, everyday ones.” Self-help author Napolean Hill My daughter calls me from our northern Wisconsin cabin. “I can’t believe it,” she says, all excited. “Right now, swimming near shore, […]
The Complicated Fox
You know those complicated relationships where you can both admire and detest someone? Feel anger but also sympathy; sadness but also amusement? I have one of those roller coaster relationships with the fox. As a youngster, I hunted rabbits with my dad. One wintry morning, a brilliant red fox crossed my path. I still recall […]
Dig In!
It happened four years ago when my husband and I decided to celebrate our anniversary by whitewater rafting in the Menominee River. “Dig in!” The command came from James, our whitewater rafting guide. Our inflatable rubber boat was nearing Hell’s Hole, a Class IV rapids with a five-foot drop. The Menominee River had swollen after […]
Swapping Stories
Holidays such as Memorial Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day can be sad ones for those of us who have lost our grandparents and parents. If you have siblings, it can help to talk to them. My brother Jeff and I were visiting on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. I had the phone on […]
Slowing Down Time
We’re at the brink of summer, and I fear in September we’ll lament, “It went so fast.” If only we could slow down time. But how do we slow down time? Researchers have found these four things help: have new experiences, feel productive by setting goals and working to achieve them, be fully engaged in […]
Refilling My Pixie Dust
“Disney World is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced,” friends told my husband and me at dinner one night. “You have to go.” We met with our travel agent. “It seems strange to go to Disney without kids,” I said. “Get yourself a pair of Mickey ears,” she said with a wink. “You get to be […]