I wrote this a while back, but saw it tonight and thought that we could all use the reminder to go where the kindness is. I do, at least! Also, sometimes we do just have to walk through the pain. No fun, but that’s the truth. Happy Wednesday to all. Len “I don’t know what…
Tag: Writing
Marriage, Anger, and the Art of Growth
I have a long fuse, but once it burns out—watch out. Just ask my husband. I’m calm and forgiving up to a point, and then—bam! I go straight to mad. And not just irritated, but (as we say in Texas) pure-D angry. I’m working on not being such a hothead, but it comes pretty naturally….
Poem: Positano
This is a memory from a long-ago visit to Positano, Italy, on the Amalfi Coast. I was there again in 2019, but didn’t get to spend much time in this lovely cliffside village. When I traveled to Positano at age 22, I was certain it was the most beautiful place in the entire world. It…
Flash Fiction: A Life Composed Anew
Janet wasn’t sure why life felt so complicated these days. Maybe it had something to do with the way the wind never seemed to stop blowing, tugging at her short gray hair, and stirring memories of happier times—before Chet died. Chet, her husband of 35 years, who’d woken up one morning saying he didn’t feel…
Combating the Mean Voice in My Head
Dear Mean Voice, I didn’t realize for a long time that you were as active a character in my brain as you are. You were much better then at throwing in a subtle negative comment only occasionally. But now you’ve moved to a new level. You are relentless about tossing in your opinion, which is…
Adding Psychotherapy Back In as One of My Professional Pursuits
As many of you may or may not know, I have been licensed in the State of Texas as a Professional Counselor since Methuselah was an infant. I was an ardent psychotherapist in my twenties, working in several community mental health centers and also on a psychiatric unit. After marrying, I had a small private…
A Letter To Luna about Her Mom
I wrote this way back in 2013, just after Luna was born, but it seems fitting to post it again since Sarah’s birthday was yesterday. Luna (now 12) reads my blog occasionally, so she might be interested in a letter I wrote to her when she was 5 weeks and 6 days old. Not to…
Revisiting “Just a Little Hope,” A Song Written by My Little Brother and Me
Last night, one of the members of my writing group, Taffy Kennedy, mentioned the song that had “hope in the title” that I had written with my brother Sam. I was so touched she remembered, I promised I’d find it so she could hear it again. Here it is below from a previous post here…
Flash Fiction: Edith’s Tear
This is a story I wrote a while back. I thought I would share it tonight because I like the main character’s voice, and the ending made me smile. Dad gives me a wink, like we are pals or something. We’re sitting in our kitchen having eggs and waffles on a Sunday morning. I’m not…
Congratulations to Marie Howe for Her Pulitzer Prize in Poetry!
I love Marie Howe’s poetry. It is accessible, heartfelt, and beautifully expressed. I first saw her when she was a guest on fellow poet Billy Collins’s Masterclass and she read her poem, “What the Living Do,” which expresses her grief over losing her brother John to AIDS in 1889. I lost two brothers, John and…
20 Minutes a Day 