Category Archives: kindness
Oversharing
Today at the drugstore, the kid at the cash register was one of those Oversharers. You know the type. Most often, it is an older person. Maybe lives alone. Maybe lonely. The old lady at the supermarket who starts by asking you about the pickles you are buying, and ends up telling you about her …
Lifting Up
There is a Facebook page that I follow for its kindness and optimism. I am not alone. More than 5 million people have liked this page. There is never any criticism in its posts. There is just support, understanding, and acceptance. For example: Recently, they posted this: More than 9,000 people responded. I read the …
Worrying About My Heroes
I need hero protection. To get me through this pandemic and these divisive insane times, I have been painting a series of portraits of people I admire. I call them my Hero Portraits. My first few portraits were relatively easy picks. They are people for whom my belief is so strong, my confidence in their …
Hero Portrait #4
I am painting a series of watercolor portraits of people that inspire me. It is my way to stay optimistic through this worry and sadness. This is Tori. Tori is the daughter of a former co-worker Tori is a nurse. Tori is now Covid-19 positive. Tori is a hero.
Two Lessons A Year
Another Year. Another Birthday. A year ago I was sitting here writing about all the stuff I wanted to learn in the twenty years I figured I had left in my life. If I was right, and I’m always right (in my mind, anyway), I now have nineteen years left. Did I learn enough this …
Choosy
Having high expectations can be a very good thing. Mostly, because I have found that when you expect the best from people, they usually give it. This is my best example. Our foyer. The carpenter who laid this floor had never done anything like this before. We showed him a photograph from a lovely mansion-turned-bed-and-breakfast …
Not Quite A Friend
There’s a woman who belongs to the same circle of friends as I do. I don’t particularly like this woman. I don’t like her politics. I don’t like most of her opinions. We don’t enjoy the same hobbies. We have little in common. But she lost someone close to her and yesterday was the sad …
The Limit
Yesterday, I warned the dogs: “I am at my limit.” This warning was at a decibel level that surprised even me. I don’t think I have been that screechy-loud since the day about sixty years ago, when the gang playing Red Rover thought it would be funny to just let go when I ran full-tilt …
Margaret
Yesterday, I remembered a woman I met in the Fall of 1969. At the time, I was under the delusion that I was going to be a nurse. My mother was a nurse and I wanted to be like her. She had her doubts but she and my dad supported my decision to go to …
notquiteold 