The woman is a Juilliard ballerina and certified Pilates instructor. The man a retired business owner, cancer survivor. She choreographed a ballet in his honor. He missed the show. The story of “Zen, Baby” is in the book.
The blue was for preparation, anxiety. Red was treatment. And If I need to draw it again, the color will start in light pink, then gradually build to a fire engine red. Yellow was recovery and Green meant full speed ahead. But of course, I underestimated the length of the yellow and the green was […]
He looks bored to me and a bit fed up with it all, like, “When will these people stop talking and just give me an answer.” This kid might be thinking, “Why do so many adults go around Robin Hood’s barn in such an indirect way to get to their destination when all I want […]
Would you let your son head off to Alaska looking for gold when he had only finished grammar school and then, out of money, take a job building telephone offices in Seattle, Washington, when phones were unheard of, and he didn’t know the first thing about electricity? My grandparents did, and my dad got his […]
Would you have let your daughter go to a place you had never been and never even heard of to live with six other girls in a dormatory over the drug store on Collins Avenue and spend her days putting plugs into jacks on a switchboard so fancy real estate men could sell white sandy […]
There’s a lot involved when you undergo treatment for a severe disease like cancer. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it takes hope. You can prepare all you want, but the storms will come, and there will be times you think you won’t make it, but if you do pull through, you can thank […]
I’d spotted Chilly Willy a few times off and on after my return to the Urban Ministry Center, but this Wednesday he looked different, more relaxed. His clothes were cleaner, his hair not so tangled but still in dreadlocks. I didn’t know who was doing his barberin’ these days, but they were better than his […]
“When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground,” the ancient saying goes, because older adults and even younger women and men and children have much to teach us about life and ourselves if we provide ways for their wisdom to be shared. Dr. Lyndall Hare used those words, “When an old man […]
I hope this sign is true because I took the advice and told the story, and soon my account will be in a book that you can buy and hold in your hand and read by turning pages and not merely scrolling down. It’s the story of preparing to retire from the business I loved […]
