Today, I attended a Zoom board meeting for Story Circle Network, the all-women’s writing organization for which I’ve served as president for the past three years. At the meeting, ten of us sat as old friends and discussed the business end of our non-profit, such as how to garner more members and how to increase…

Today, we’re in North Texas and we’ve been working at our mid-century building that was a Savings and Loan when it was first built in 1962. I’ve been dusting, sweeping, and straightening our art pottery collection and various and sundry other items that will eventually be added to our inventory for our antiques and collectibles…

This evening, Ray and I attended the musical “Sister Act” performed by the Sherman Community Players. The music and lyrics for this show were written by the famous Alan Menken & Glenn Slater. My old friend Darrah Dunn, who is the artistic director for SCP, directed the play and was aided by both MD Christian,…

I recently ran across this flash fiction story I wrote a few years back. It demonstrates how a difficult loss can prompt a change that motivates a life shift. This story makes me happy because it shows how making one small change can often lead to a series of other positive changes, which create a…

I had planned to write for one month only on one thing daily that made me happy, but I discovered something in the process of writing those “happy” posts. That simple decision to redirect my focus helped me to shift from all the negative events and occurrences in the world to the many people, places,…

I delivered the eulogy below yesterday evening at my friend Walter Johnson’s Requiem Mass. It was a true honor to stand before a church full of old friends at St. Thomas the Apostle and speak about the love, kindness, and longstanding service of our beloved Deacon Johnson. He was a good friend of mine and…

Did you know that in 1950, the average life span was 68 years old?  Now, it is 79 for men and women and that number will increase consistently with more medical advances. The age gap between men and women’s life expectancies is also narrowing.  That is good for men and for women, too, since that…

My nephew, Jim Agutter, is celebrating his birthday today. He’s 57 and I remember changing his diapers when he was a baby. He is my sister Leslie’s son, and he lives in Salt Lake City with his wife, Karri, and two kids, Eli and Sophie. Jim is an architecture professor at the University of Utah…

Recently, Luna read me the story below, which she wrote in 40 minutes during California testing. I was very pleased and proud that my sweet little 10-year-old granddaughter (not so little since we’re now the same height) had composed this well-written, true story. In fact, I continue to be so happy about it that I…