It’s a Saturday in August of 2003. My husband, Steve, and I have lived in Arizona for four months. The small house we’re renting in Cottonwood serves us well until we find one to buy. If things are going so well, why did I wake up this morning in a swamp of anxiety? I…
Christmas cactus 2020 It’s the Christmas holiday in 2020, and I watch in disappointment as newly formed buds fall off my Christmas cactus. They remind me, with sadness, of the “pearls of wisdom and encouragement” I try all year to publish on my blog page. Like those buds on my Christmas cactus, each writing…
Ben didn’t know of any other family as diverse as his when it came to religion and politics. Every year, when the family gathered for the holidays, Ben watched his Uncle Jim navigate the diversity with a skill that softened interactions and lightened moods. As Ben watched how Uncle Jim could calm the heated…
We all have aspects of ourselves hidden in the shadow of our personalities. Psychologist Carl Jung called these aspects archetypes — universal symbols that may pop out and project themselves onto our relationships or life circumstances, surprising us at times when we don’t expect them. Jung taught people to welcome the shadow. Even though…
Today I placed a piece of dark chocolate in my mouth, and its smooth sweetness transported me to envision my sister, chocolate and a treasured memory of a secret middle-of-the-night adventure. I am back in my parent’s kitchen in the early 1960’s, and the smell of warm chocolate melting as I stand over the…
My muscles clenched in fight mode as I glanced over at my husband, Steve, sitting in the driver’s seat. As we drove to Flagstaff, I could feel the burning hot anger as it tore through my insides. I felt shocked at how our seemingly innocent conversation, with lightning speed, had flared up. How do…
With each attempt at writing this blog, I ran into inner roadblocks. In all my attempts to put words on paper, I couldn’t make anything work. Nothing felt right. I can usually get into a flow that serves the writing, and this wasn’t flowing! Then I received an email from my son, Ethan. “Mom,”…