The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can. – Neil Gaiman The story of the nativity would be incomplete without the shepherds “keeping watch over their flocks […]
Powerful Triumph Of Perseverance over Adversity
Through hard work, perseverance and a faith in God, you can live your dreams. – Ben Carson On an extended weekend to attend my 45th high school reunion in Rooks County, Kansas, we added a day in order to visit Jewell County. This is the land to which my mother’s father’s family immigrated from northern […]
A Journey Into Mission Aviation Fellowship
In June of 2016 on a return trip to Kansas from a family gathering in Moscow, ID, we took time to stop at the headquarters of Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) in Nampa, ID. We have been supporters of MAF for over 25 years, but my journey with this organization goes back much further. The Paternal […]
Hello Summer! Abundant Simplicity, Calm, and “Stories” To Delight
“If it could only be like this always – always summer, always alone, the fruit always ripe and Aloysius in a good temper…” ―Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited When one is retired from working as an employee, one would think that the seasons, including summer, would all blend together. While my time is more flexible, it […]
The Handkerchief – A Lewis Clan Reunion
“He produced a handkerchief—crisply folded—and handed it to her. She took it with silent astonishment. She’d never before known anyone who carried a handkerchief.” ― Cassandra Clare, City of Bones Nothing shows both polish and utility like the nattily tucked pocket handkerchief or ‘pocket square’ in the breast pocket of a man’s blazer, sport coat, or suit jacket. […]
Aunt Beulah’s House Smiles Again – A Happy Miller Reunion
There is an eternal landscape, a geography of the soul; we search for its outlines all our lives. Josephine Hart My childhood is steeped in geography with Aunt Beulah’s House as a significant one. These locations connect to relationships and key events. In most cases, when memory recalls a particular occasion, it includes a place: […]
My Grandfathers’ Rocking Chairs – What They Represent
There is a peacefulness, an air of reflection, about a rocking chair that attaches to no other moving object. – Wallis Simpson We are fortunate that two rocking chairs, one from each side of my family, the Hancocks and the Rightmeiers, remain in the family. We do not know much about them, except they were […]
How To Tap Into Your Unique Inner Legacy
I’ve always liked the idea of memoirs, going into someone else’s life, going through someone else’s day and getting out of your own head. – Isabel Gillies The decision to start this BLOG came from a desire to preserve stories. To capture those bits of memory that get lost as generations pass and years go […]
Calm Joyful Remembrance: Recall, Recount And Respond
Think only of the past as its (calm joyful) remembrance gives you pleasure. Jane Austen This weekend is Memorial Day in the United States. This day of remembrance began after the civil war. Honor was expressed by decorating the graves of fallen soldiers. In fact it was called Decoration Day even by my parents. It […]