Good Clean Reads

This week I had a near miss. The gynecologist’s office called to have me redo my mammogram because there was a lump present. Every woman’s worst nightmare and one that becomes a life transformation for one out of seven. After a few harrowing hours I learned that it was benign. A new lease on life. The sky seemed bigger and the relationships that define my life so much more precious.

Valentine’s...

I came home to Eugene from a whirlwind tour of Whole Foods stores in Northern California. I am always happy to come home to the quiet and peace of this green valley after the excitement and density of the large metropolis surrounding us. On arriving home I learned of a community tragedy, two of our Eugene Symphony players were killed in a tragic and senseless wreck on their way home from a...

Here is one of the sweetest stories to come across the front page of the newspaper in a long time. Not far from Mantua, Italy, the home of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, this neolithic couple who lived over 5000 years ago were found on their sides holding each other, a very unique find in that period. “Double burials in the Neolithic are unheard of and these are even hugging.” Menotti, the...

"I felt angry toward my friend.
I told my wrath. My wrath did end.
I felt angry toward my foe.
I told him not. My wrath did grow."

-William Blake

When we don’t air our feelings they harden in us. They become the stories that separate us. They are the hard edges that eat away at our connections Staying in a relationship requires that we each are responsible to our feelings at every moment...

“I tell you, the more I think, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.” -Vincent Van Gogh

I found this quote recently and have been hanging onto it, almost like fingers clutching a ledge, as the onslaught of stories and information pours on about the demise of our current state of relationships. Last week’s coverage of the historic turn of events where more...

Here is a good book for any of us who wonder what it would take to improve your relationship. The actual title is “The Sex Starved Marriage” by Michele Weiner Davis, but the content applies to any intimate relationship. I was particularly struck by the section of the book on real giving.

The premise of giving in a relationship is that when you do it, it can’t be based on what you would want or...

“Love is always revolutionary…It is the only thing worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don’t risk anything, you risk even more.”

This week my extended family has joined our yearly winter getaway. We are not known for reunions, my own immediate family accustomed to just our own company. Being in the middle of the crazy family stories that I moved far away to avoid now, years later, makes me realize that really all they are is stories. It was particularly poignant to have the whole group of us, three generations, watching...

It is a few minutes into Christmas. I am often up this late, waiting for some kind of divine inspiration after the rushing around and wrapping is through. Many years ago I received this poem for Christmas. I so loved it that I turned it into a refrigerator magnet and sent it out to all of my friends the next year. I still have it up and thought it was the nicest thought that I could share...