Search results for "all are invited"
I used to think the secret to a great story could be discovered by following all the rules: Avoid passive voice. Use strong verbs. Make your point quickly. Stick to the facts. The rules served me well in the news business, where deadlines looked like clocks with fangs. Hard-nosed news editors made you shove your […]
I’ve heard it said before: “We are human beings, not human doings.” In fact, I’ve pledged to live by that simple mantra a time or twenty. But sometimes, my heart forgets to inform my brain of my good intentions. That’s what had happened that morning, just after the mellow morning sun spilled into the kitchen. The […]
A whole year of days stretches out in front of us. Stretches out like a promise. And I pray that your 2014 is a year filled with mint-chip ice cream, fuzzy slippers, snow angels, great books, dark chocolate, sweet surprises at your front door, laugh-til-you-cry friends, good endings, the presence of mind to stop for […]
So, this is Christmas. The photo? It’s me and Dad, in the living room at our house in Marathon, Iowa, in 1972. The Life magazine is there on the floor, declaring the “Joy of Christmas.” Dad’s tarnished gold watch is stretched onto his wrist. That’s probably a pack of Pall Malls in his shirt pocket. […]
He showed up unexpectedly on our front doorstep, while fat flakes fluttered down from the heavens, in moonlight. My husband, Scott, opened the door. And a man stepped in, stamping his snowy feet on the rug. Winter exhaled this frosty cloud into our house. I couldn’t see him. But the man’s voice was familiar, and […]