“Houston Left”

My Aunt Adaire told me a joke a long time ago about a group of people driving to Houston. As they went along they saw road signs: "Houston 200 miles," "Houston 126 miles," "Houston 50 miles." When they saw a sign that said "Houston Left," they turned around and went...

Some Alternatives to “Perfect”

Persuasive, not perfect. Meaningful, not perfect. Complete, not perfect. Understood, not perfect. Comprehensible, not perfect. Weird, not perfect. Significant, not perfect. Purposeful, not perfect. Creative, not perfect. Near, not perfect. Lovely, not perfect. Edible,...

What Do Great Blue Herons Think of Themselves?

Lesson is the noun; learn is the verb. All the lessons are present, we just need to figure out what to do with them. Lesson One: The Great Blue Heron My neighborhood has crows, gulls, and pigeons aplenty, along with flickers, starlings, sparrows, robins, woodpeckers,...

How I Got Myself Unstuck Today

What did I come here to learn and what did I come here to teach? They are the same thing. I always learn and teach at the same time. Today I'm teaching and learning how to use writing to get myself unstuck and back on track. Or is that too many things? One thing...

The Sweet Taste of My Own Medicine

The Sweet Taste of My Own Medicine

As someone who works for herself and spends a lot of time alone, I need my business friendships to keep me going. I have a half-dozen friends around the world who support each other, women who are cutting their own paths through the woods and calling out to each other...

Evening Afternoon

Evening Afternoon

By the light through which I can still see the sparkle and blotch of downtown neons blurring and running together like oil in its gutters, light that grabs at the candle wick batting it back and forth, tetherball tethered to a wax upright— even by this light, your...

We Are Not Pregnant

We Are Not Pregnant

The first pregnant peer of mine had to tell me to walk more slowly EVERY SINGLE TIME. She was kind and patient about it, though I routinely found myself half a block ahead of her in the middle of what had seemed to me a conversation but had turned into a monologue....

Find Your Guideposts

I find that I'm invisible online, I am in a sea of health coaches with much less experience and training, yet they're attracting crowds. I try to offer value to my list and it's not easy to get feedback ... online, with an email list, I'm sort of lost and trying to...

Whittlin’

On Friday morning, my home internet connection stopped working. A call to our ISP indicated a widespread problem they already knew about and were working on, one they anticipated would be resolved by 10:31 pm. We spent a bit of time speculating on that specificity —...

Experimental Girl

Risk and adventure. Stretching boundaries. Exploring new terrain. Every day, I find myself thinking about how to move beyond. Some days, this has a self-critical feel, a sense of being stuck and trying to get unstuck. Some days, I'm full of energy and enthusiasm for...

Karen Hyams took this photo.

I say what’s on my warped and unvarnished mind. I invite all readers to do the same.