The V-Word

“Children are one third of our population and all of our future.” ~Select Panel for the Promotion of Child Health, 1981

I grew up in an unfortunate family with parents who were unhappy and dissatisfied with themselves and each other. There was little left for the kids and no real relationships developed or were fostered in the house. Culminating in an ugly divorce, the distance between my...

“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” ~Albert Einstein

My kids taught me to text. They all have cell phones that they rarely answer except if I am calling, the condition that I set for paying for all their texting. But if I want an immediate response I know better, I text. Texting is actually quite convenient for taking care of the mundane details that...

“I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can’t see from the center.” –Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

In my twenties I bought a poster of some guy hanging off the side of a cliff with Jayne Howard’s quote, “If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much room.” I always liked to think of myself as someone who pushes...

“Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.” -Unknown

Today I received a card that said “It’s not you, it’s me.” This is the perfect break-up line, assuring that even if you are walking away from something that is worth fighting for and about, you can go guilt free. After all you took responsibility and legitimately tried to make the...

Lara Londonis a full time Pilates instructor and certified teacher of Holistic Biomechanics. Throughout her past as a student of competitive gymnastics and swimming, Lara has always been inspired about the capacity of the human body in motion. In her current training with individuals and classes, Lara’s goal is to educate her clients about functional movement, build strength from a structural...

“Love and magic have a great deal in common. They enrich the soul, delight the heart. And they both take practice.” –Anonymous

As the activity coordinator of the 8^th grade graduation celebration, I got to select and hire the entertainment. The temporary tattoo guy and DJ were already booked, so I got to focus on the magic. Given my proclivity to love, I liked the magician we found, Hart Keene...

“With time and sincerity, you will discover a way to work and write that does not harm you spiritually, that does not tempt you to vanity, that is the deepest expression of your spirituality. You will find a voice that is not your voice only, but the voice of Reality itself…. If you can be empty enough, that voice can speak through you. If you can be humble enough, that voice can inhabit you...

I bought a gas grill today. I have wanted one for at least three summers, with each passing year, the charcoal process seemed to take longer and get easier to avoid. On Mother’s Day I bartered away a Mother’s Day brunch for the grill. Then it started to rain and one thing lead to another, the grill never transitioned from the space in my imagination to take a spot on the back deck.

It was a...

“There is a good reason they call these ceremonies ‘commencement exercises’. Graduation is not the end, it’s the beginning.” -Orrin Hatch

I attended my son’s high school graduation tonight and listened as one of his classmates shared a quote from Winston Churchill: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” The young man recounted his own experience...