Category: Life
Finding the Way to Our Highest Self I had no idea which way was up. I was pumping my arms and legs, hoping to break the surface of the water. The breath I had taken before plunging into the cold waters of the Pacific Ocean felt as if it was slamming against my closed throat […]
I closed my eyes to savor the crisp air as I drew a large, calming breath into my lungs. It reminded me of the cool fall nights of my childhood, where we would play capture-the-flag or ghost-in-the-graveyard until beckoned home by our parents. My eyes snapped open as I heard the first explosion. This was […]
I learned that she was several years senior to her third husband. She was a diligent disciple of the running/walking era of the late 1970’s. She prided herself on the distances she could put in along the scenic Susquehanna River. She definitely valued the benefit to her health she received from these times on the […]
Blue Mountain Resort in Palmerton, Pennsylvania plays host to one of the toughest “Spartan Races” in the country. A Spartan Race is a particular brand of outdoor obstacle course racing (OCR). These OCRs are typically 4, 8 or 12 miles of a combined running, walking, scrambling, crawling, climbing, carrying, wading, throwing… and unless you are […]
A friend recently recommended that I watch the Amazon Prime series “Alone.” As a closet introvert, I found the premise of the show immediately compelling. The idea is that 10 individuals are simultaneously dropped off on totally isolated locations within the predator rich Vancouver Islands during the cold and wet fall conditions. Each of these […]
I like to think about stuff. What people do, what drives them to do it, etc. I like to think about how things affect the individual, those in close contact with her, and for the community and culture at large. I also like to observe the behavior of people and how it flows from what […]
The Cary Joni Fukunaga film, Beasts of No Nation, tells the compelling story of a young boy, Agu, who is violently separated from his family as the nation’s raging civil war consumes his small African village. He is found and forced to join rebel forces as a child soldier. When he is later rescued, he […]
A few weeks ago I went back to the small western Pennsylvania town that I grew up in to visit with an old family friend and mentor. On my way out of town, I took the long-way, where homes become separated by farms, meadows and forest. As I intentionally turned off-course onto a familiar, less […]
It came rushing back to me like a demon, digging its talons in my heart and mind with a determination to never let go. Standing at the top of the ski slope in Vail, my old friend, or more accurately my old fiend, showed up for a reunion. Shame. Mine was not an athletic family. […]
One of the things I value most from my childhood is that I was afforded so much time to think. With only four TV channels, no video games (until my friend Gary got an Atari), farmland for a yard, and no club sports (imagine that!), my siblings and I were required to “find something to […]
There’s nothing like the passing away of a loved one to cause one to mull over things — important things — what matters and why? My mother recently died at age 89. She finally lost her battle after a catastrophic health event six years ago followed by steadily declining health. Since the path to her death […]