I have always hated what comes first when contemplating change: the ruin of what is; the demolition of the status quo; the process of undoing in order to redo. This has caused me great discomfort, a person with a strong need for tidiness and order. “Let’s knock down that wall,” my husband might say as…
Category: Writing as a Discipline
Flash Essay: Heat and Hard Work Do Not Make for the Best Guest
Today was hot and full of outdoor activity. That makes for tiredness. I drank lots of iced tea while outside and took periodic rests, but I still ended the day feeling as if someone had pulled the plug on me. That did not make me a very engaging guest when visiting friends I’d been looking…
Flash Essay: Our Garage Sale or How to Feel Good and Make A Little Money, Too
Our garage sale was a resounding success today. Each of the families who brought items had a handful of cash by the end of the day plus the benefit of a morning and afternoon of genuine camaraderie. We sold most of the items in the sale for fifty cents to a dollar so we sold…
The Lost Art of Chatting
Today we had the first unofficial selling at our garage sale and we (Ray and I and our neighbors) sold collectively around $450! We were all pretty jazzed since we aren’t even officially opening until 7 tomorrow morning. This experience of working with our friends and neighbors on this “clearing out” process has been one…
Flash Essay: Feeling Neigborhood Pride
I have just walked inside after working all day in the 100 degree heat here in North Texas. Granted, I have not been out in the direct sun, but I have been working away in a house with no air conditioning. That house is across the street from our Texas home and is a restoration…
Flash Essay: Sammie, Our New Foster Dog
Our daughter Sarah called us a few days ago and told us that her landlord had informed her in no uncertain terms that no dogs were allowed in her new apartment. This was right after she rescued a little Scottie, who had clearly been severely neglected. Ray got off the phone that night and said,…
Flash Essay: Trash or Treasure
I am tired tonight. For good reason. I have, as my husband just said, “Been moving junk around from a life I haven’t participated in for twenty years,” aka “Moving my husband’s stuff around, yet again.” The first time that I realized my husband had an inordinate relationship with “stuff” was several months after we…
Flash Essay: Sharp Edges
We woke up early this morning – 6:30 or 7 – only to discover that our dog had chewed up my husband’s glasses. We found the lenses in many pieces, the earpieces twisted and chewed and we never located the nosepiece. Ray loves this dog more than most humans he knows, so after the shock…
Flash Essay: A New Eating Plan – Back to Basics
My husband Ray has started a new eating program: no eating between meals. He has been at it for two months and I can definitely see that he is thinner as a result. So, of course, I have jumped onboard to see if this will help me trim down my larger-than-I-would-like waistline. I started last…
Flash Essay: Hiding Places and Dark Spaces
I have always liked small dark places where I could hide: closets mainly, but when I was little I didn’t mind under the bed or in a cardboard box with the lid slightly shut. I even had a secret hiding place behind a long drawer in my bathroom when I was nine or ten where…
20 Minutes a Day 