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Inspirationless
I am too tired these days to find inspiration. I worry that I have lost it permanently. But then I will be sitting and typing an email to our escrow officer for the sale of our home and I will realize that I’m just tired. The words are all still in there. Otherwise, why did…
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Moving
Moving a household … especially one that has taken 27 years to establish and entrench so very completely in the place where it is … is no easy feat. I hate moving. Pure and simple. It’s why we haven’t done it much. Bernd hates moving too. The house we have lived in all these years…
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Buying a House
We are twenty-seven years older now than when we last looked for and bought a house. In some ways, we are older and wiser. In other ways we are simply older and tired-er. Several things came together all at once to make buying a new house and moving right now more appealing. Not that moving…
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Crazy is as Crazy Does
First I am going to tell you never to do this. Then I am going to tell you that we decided to do it again. We got up Tuesday (October 27) at midnight and hit the road at 2:00 a.m. Our goal was to get from Dewey, AZ to Riverton, WY before dark. That didn’t…
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Blind Devotion
A woman walks up to her local 99 cent store. She has been there at least a hundred times before. She pushes on the front door to enter the shop and the door does not open. In the past, it has always opened when she pushed on it. She pulls out her cell phone and…
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Mindfulness
Mental Health In the mental health field, most often mindfulness is described as an integrative, mind-body based approach that helps people to manage their thoughts and feelings and mental health. It is becoming widely used in a range of contexts. It is recommended as a preventative practice for people with recurrent depression. It is most…
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Not Letting Go
There is a very good chance that by a year from now, we will be settled (mostly) in a new home in a new state. We have been cleaning out the basement with an eye toward moving. We ask ourselves these questions frequently: Do I like it enough to move it 875 miles? Do we…
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Garage Sales
Twice a year, the small community where we live hosts a community-wide garage sale. It’s advertised in all the local papers and draws people from miles and miles away. It’s a big deal. The second one is always on the first Friday and Saturday in October. The first one was cancelled this year due to…
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Weird Words, Part 13
Wackadoodle Just the other day I had this clue in a crossword puzzle: “not completely whack-a-doodle.” The answer they wanted was “sane.” Until that moment, I’d never heard that word before. I know, you are probably thinking I’ve led a sheltered life. In some ways, I probably have. I checked out the definition online and…
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Losing Bonfire
Bonfire was the sweetest, kindest, gentlest, most generous soul I have ever known. When my mother died, she wanted to get rid of Dad’s stuff. She said it was too painful to keep because it reminded her of him and her loss. But I think it’s the other way around. It’s the absence of all…
Maddie's Mom Writes 