(2021 The 100 Day Project 3/100) Number 36 of 60 on “the list” is to participate in The 100 Day Project this year. This purpose of the project is simple: choose something that nourishes your creativity, do it every day for 100 days, and share your process online. What you do and how you do whatever it is that you choose to do is up to you. Beyond the intention to create something each day for 100 days, there are…
I grew up hearing adults say that you should never discuss politics or religion with your friends. As a kid, I didn’t think much about that because…well, even if I had discussed either of these two topics, the conversation would have been very short. As I matured, I realized that politics and/or religion shape most, if not all, of our adult worldview. Why would people not want to discuss these things that are seemingly so important? It seems that if…
It Is Time (An ode to Inauguration Day, January 20, 2021) On this date four years ago, I watched alongside others In the U.S. and around the world As the duly elected new president Was sworn into office With an oath in which he promised to “faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Though I did not vote…
In the United States, today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday created to celebrate and honor the life and work of Rev. Dr. King, a man who literally gave his life in the fight to end racial inequality in this country. Less significantly, for me this day has also always marked the real end to the Christmas holidays, as the spring semester begins on the Tuesday after MLK Day. Again, in no particular order, #45 on…
A year ago today, my friend Becca and I were in Miami getting ready to board a huge cruise ship for a weeklong vacation with no agenda except rest, relaxation, and spending time with each other in the Caribbean. Becca is an occupational therapist and had just worked through the Christmas holidays and I was about to go back to teaching the spring semester. This was the one week where our schedules worked so we booked ourselves a mental health…
I miss going to the grocery store. Not because I miss grocery shopping…I have become quite the fan of grocery delivery, but because I miss looking at all of the things that I don’t need and end up buyig anyway. One of my favorite grocery store impulse buys is magazines. Sometimes it is magazines full of pretty food photos and recipes that catch my attention. If I’m not feeling like adulting, it may be puzzle or coloring books. Sometimes, usually…
January 1, 2021…I know that many people waited with anticipation last night as the clock’s hands moved to 12:01, hoping that they were a magic wand that had the power to sweep away all of the challenges that accompanied us through 2020. I am a realist and have never been one for fairytales. And honestly, New Year’s Eve has never been on my list of top days to celebrate. There is no magic that comes with a new year. The…
Back in the summer of 2018, I took a bucket list trip to Alaska, a cruise with several of my closest friends. It was an amazing trip, all that I hoped it would be and much more. I wrote a little about it HERE in a short-lived series of posts titled Sailing Toward Sixty. When I wrote the initial post about taking the Alaska trip, I intended it to be a series that I would write over three years, chronicling…
The pandemic lifestyle has challenged each of us to adjust our routines and redefine our notion of normal. Some of these changes have been tough; others have become positive ah-ha moments. It’s 2:20 on a Monday afternoon. Because I slept later than usual and thus ate a later=than-usual breakfast, the lunch debate at our house was just now happening. Since it was so late in the day, we tossed around the idea of skipping lunch and eating an early dinner. …
When I was in college, now forty years ago, my favorite breakfast was animal crackers and grapefruit juice. I would get up most mornings around 5:15 so that I could be in the practice room by 6am, getting in almost two hours of practice before my eight o’clock class. This college routine taught me much about the discipline needed as a musician, but maybe not so much about breakfast being the most important meal of the day. As a college…