I have to confess that it seemed like quite a commitment of time for someone who rediscovered my creative self about five years ago, but I jumped in feet first (I have a tendency to overachieve) planning to study the material, do every activity, answer every question and finish strong with renewed enthusiasm. I am well into my next big creative project which at times has left me feeling a little overwhelmed, so I was convinced after completing this course, I would be able to finish my second book with fresh ideas and renewed enthusiasm. Now that the course is complete, I do feel that. However, it didn’t come in a big epiphany and wave of confidence, but more little discoveries about myself and my writing process that have made me feel ready to get to the finish line.

I did not complete every task the book suggested, nor did I score 100% on writing three full journal pages every day and I missed an artist date or two. If I were to be graded on my aptitude, I would probably give myself a B-. I didn’t feel everything in Julia’s book applied to me and I even confess that a time or two I outright rebelled and said out loud, “That’s dumb, I’m not doing that.” Clearly grades don’t mean as much to me as when I was in actual school. However, I do feel there was value in what I did take away from completing the course.

There were a lot of little lessons along the way, but my main takeaways are the following three that all happen to start with the letter “P”. (I do love allitration!)

1. Playfulness – The Artist’s Way focused a lot on the importance of connecting with your creative inner child and how allowing yourself to “play” truly does enhance creativity. The artist solo dates helped me realize that I enjoy spending time by myself doing things that bring me joy. I took myself to lunch and coffee, took in parks, went on photographic walks, went on a couple of treasure hunts, fingerpainted and built Legos outside and even went to a movie. It was good for me to realize that I can go and do things alone without feeling intimidated and that treating myself builds a lightness of spirit that lends itself to being more creative.

2. Perfectionism – This was a big lesson for me that I discovered about mid-way through the course. I’ve always known I have a tendency toward perfectionism. What I didn’t fully realize is that the tendency to only do things you do well means that I didn’t take risks to try things I might not be perfect at and that failing is a necessary part of creative growth. I had been missing out on things I might truly enjoy because I didn’t want to not do them right the first time. Watercolor painting has taught me that there is a lot of failure when you first begin and that it takes time and patience to get better. Not every painting is a masterpiece, that’s for certain. But when you do accomplish a “good one” it’s incredibly rewarding. I wouldn’t appreciate them if I hadn’t had a lot of “not so good ones.”

3. Partnership – The Artist’s Way recommends connecting with a group of three other people to share feedback, encouragement, and accountability. My group of four all felt differently about the course and the lessons in the book, but I learned from all of them along the way. I connected with others outside my group as well to compare notes and ideas. I came to realize the importance of those connections to maintain enthusiasm for creative projects and the accountability to stay on track. With the help of my creative partners, I believe I will finish my second book this year.

I’m grateful for this opportunity. I’m grateful for the growth. I’m grateful for the people I shared this journey alongside. I’m so grateful, in fact, that I’m going on to the next phase through Julia’s next book, “It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again”, which is designed for creatives in my stage of life. I have a great group of women who will share the lessons, insights and tasks. I have no doubt I will be playing, taking risks, and growing even more in the next weeks and months. And stay tuned for my second book, “The Other Side of Wilderness”, due out this year!

I started at the main pond area where there is a nice walking path. I circled twice, took a few photos, and stopped to admire the baby ducks and their parents. On my second loop, a great blue heron came flapping down from a tree and landed very near me. What a gift! I continued on to Duncan Gardens and the Geiser Conservatory greenhouse. This area is a European Renaissance style garden featuring cultured beds of annuals all planted by volunteers. It’s a glorious place in summer when everything is in full bloom, but today it was delightful to see the early plantings and first blooms.

From there I moved to the Nishinomiya Tsutakawa Japanese Garden. I took my journal and sat and enjoyed the calm feeling this garden produces. It’s a great place to get quiet and let nature speak. I spent about 45 minutes watching the ducks and koi creating ripples on the ponds. I then wandered through the Rose Garden and Perennial Garden which are just beginning to create what will be amazing beauty in a few weeks.

What a gift our local parks are. I would love to spend many more days taking in all the subtleties in outdoor spaces where nature is the star of the show. With time to just roam, observe, and appreciate all the small nuances of preserved spaces, we see the careful thought and care that goes into maintaining them for all to enjoy.

Today reminded me to look for those small, subtle glimpses of the best parts of nature that are just waiting to be discovered and appreciated. And in the observation, I found some small, subtle inspiration that I can’t wait to see play out.

Here are a few photos of my “date”. Maybe you will see some subtle beauty, too.

The downside of living in a “zoo” is that they tend to eat whatever is tasty, which includes most blooming things. I have found a few survivors who provide splashes of brief color in the spring. Deer don’t enjoy iris or peonies and a few flowering bushes such as lavender, butterfly bushes and Russian sage. But I long for some lingering bloomers that last through the summer.

My first attempt this year was tulips. I enjoyed the blooms for about two days before they were discovered and lopped off. My son, a former landscaper, is always trying to help me find “deer resistant” plants and protect them with small fences or barriers. For Mother’s Day this year, his family gave me a packet of wildflowers to drop into corners and beds to bring some added color. Wish me luck!

Today I planted wildflowers.
They represent wishful thinking.
Survival is uncertain at best.
The odds are against actual blossoms.
But hope springs eternal,
because color is a lifeline, 
a symbol of artistry in nature.
I will water them, watch over them,
and protect them best I can.
They’re an invitation to a party
for hummingbirds and dragonflies.
I want to believe they will come
all dressed in finest frocks.

Today I planted wildflowers.
No matter the outcome,
the trying was worthwhile. 

Photo credit: Psychology Today

In my mission to focus on and share the stories of the positive things that happen constantly in our world, I seek out the best storytellers who bring those uplifting narratives to life. I’ve highlighted the work of Steve Hartman before. His job as a journalist and news correspondent is to travel around finding those bright spots that we don’t hear about in the mainstream news. His stories are often featured on CBS Sunday Morning and almost always, I get the lump in my throat or a tear in my eye when Steve the Storyteller shares the good he finds.

Photo Credit: CBS News

This Sunday’s story was about how hard life can be at times and how the kindness and generosity of people can be the lifeline that lifts people back up when they hit bottom. Steve’s stories can be found on Instagram, CBS News and YouTube. Here’s the link to this story on YouTube: Nebraska Ranchers

Did you feel that lump in your throat? Did it remind you of the innate goodness of people who actually put hands and feet on their natural propensity to be helpers? This story touched me in a way that reminded me that I can be that helper. I don’t have hay to donate to farmers who have lost everything, but I do have resources I can share. I am able bodied enough to lend a hand to a neighbor. I can offer my gifts and talents to encourage. I can be the good news of this day. And you can, too.

When we hear of needs, maybe our first response could be “How can I help?” And sometimes the only answer might be to stand in the flames with the person whose life is on fire. Or sometimes it might be bringing in the hose. Whatever the “rescue” looks like, let’s offer up what we can to make life a little easier. That’s the kind of good news all of us need about now even if it doesn’t make the headlines.

We don’t usually venture out camping until weather is more settled, so in March we hopped a plane to visit friends in the Phoenix area and take in a couple of spring training baseball games. We asked for warm. Maybe we should have been more specific in our request as warm was an understatement. The temps ventured into the hundreds and the adjustment took some getting used to! Phew! But we spent time with great friends and we appreciated their backyard pools.

April came and we just couldn’t wait any longer to give the new 5th wheel a test run. We booked a long weekend in our favorite wine country getaway, Prosser, Washington. We caught up with our winemaker friends and enjoyed the warm days and cool nights all while figuring out what all the buttons do in the camper.

We are so blessed to be able to travel and escape our home base once in awhile. I do not take that for granted. And my husband is quite grateful when he sees that antsy unsettled look in my eyes that starts to rise in mid-winter. I described that feeling in a poem I wrote this week.

Restlessness rises into an expanded longing, a need.
Change of scenery, adventure, an explorer’s hunger to feed.
To see the world, a different view, a new place to sojourn
A call to the heart to come and play, to even grow and learn. 

Home is where the heart is, but the soul wants something more
To escape four walls, to follow freedom, to wander outside the door.
Fed by curiosity, a challenge of routine, testing limits of time and space
Wandering from the mundane familiar, feelings of captivity erased. 

Just as the caged bird quietly sings the song of eternal hope
when freed escapes far and away, beyond its former scope.
He never forgets his wings can flutter and carry him away,
We, too, must remember we can fly, in a cage not forced to stay.  

Where will you wander to find that feeling of escape? Far away? Close to home? Day trip? Overnighter? Retreat? Do you get that itch to look at some different scenery? Where is your favorite place to “get away”? I’d love to hear your thoughts, so please share in the comments! I’m open to suggestions for our next adventure!

Photo credit: stock photo from vecteezy.com

I was impressed with the team that made up the crew of Artemis 2. There was plenty of diversity and experience and it was exciting to me that there was a seasoned veteran commander who has been an astronaut since 2009, a black pilot with a wide resume of space experience on past missions, a woman with a work history of breaking records for women in space, and a specialist who would be the first Canadian ever to fly to the moon. The names Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen will be added to the list of astronauts who will be remembered for breaking new ground in a field that has been secondary on our minds for many years.

Photo courtesy of ABC News

This mission became even more special when I learned that our daughter and her family, two of our grandkids, would get to witness the return of Artemis 2 to the earth while on a spring break trip to San Diego. I became so excited for them to be present for such a monumental moment in history. It suddenly also became very real to me that these are dangerous endeavors into space and sometimes things go wrong. I remembered witnessing on television the explosion of the Challenger flight in which seven astronauts died. On a trip to Arlington National Cemetery, I visited their gravesites. It occurred to me there was a chance that my grandchildren could witness something devastating and I began to pray for the safety of the mission and a successful splashdown. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one praying as I thought about the families of these brave crew members.

Photo credit: NASA

I watched the re-entry and the picture-perfect release of the parachutes and splashdown into the Pacific. It was with a sigh of relief and tearful emotion to see the crew all safely exit the Integrity capsule. The first public appearance and words of the astronauts from Houston clearly indicated the bond, love and friendship this crew had for each other. It was a profound and joyful time of sharing of their initial feelings about the mission being successfully completed. Again, I felt a swell of emotion that caught in my throat.

Photo credit: NASA

Our nation needed this victory. There hasn’t been a lot to cheer about in recent weeks. I can’t speak for anyone else, but watching the Artemis 2 story unfold reminded me that there are still amazing and positive things going on in our world. I’m a little sad that the news was perhaps downplayed in light of other world events, but it gave me a feeling of progress and hope for the future. The brave, brilliant people who made this mission a success deserve our respect and admiration.

My grandkids will not forget this beautiful moment in history. I’m so glad they got to be there. As for me, I am feeling grateful for this uplifting story that I got to watch from the sidelines. We need heroes who exemplify the best characteristics of people who step into the unknown and risk all for the sake of something bigger than all of us. They remind us that earth is really small in the grand scheme and that when you look down on it from the moon it’s still the same beautiful green and blue orb that looks like nothing else in the universe. We are blessed to get to live on it. So when we are down here feeling like it’s all falling apart, pull up the photos of earth from Artemis 2. It’s amazing, beautiful, indescribable, unique and kind of unbelievable that we are tiny dots on another tiny blue dot that continues to share rotation with a smaller piece of rock known as earth’s moon around a big burning star in one tiny corner of the universe. Perspective is everything!

Photo credit: NASA

As I took in all the sights and sounds of spring I felt very energetic and alive, and I was reminded of this poem that I wrote recently. Nature does a wonderful job of igniting our spirits and helping us realize that we, too, are growing and renewing with each new season. Today I definitely felt Abundantly Alive!

Easter blessings on all who celebrate!

A natural spring rising out of the depths
bursts through the surface of the ground.
An eternal source of clarity 
An ever-renewable purity 
A bounty of resource and supply.
Icy water that quenches the deep thirst of earth
and nurtures the external longing of nature.
Abundance appears in unexpected places,
renewing the land and growing spaces.

My spirit has a spring of overflowing water
bubbling up from the hidden deep 
giving life in the parched desert
when I’ve wandered into the wilderness too far.  
It’s more than enough to replenish
internal cisterns and dry, empty vessels
in constant need of the water of life. 
An eternal source of clarity
An ever-renewable purity
A bounty of resource and supply.
My cup runneth over; I am abundantly alive.

All photos are original.

Graceful grasses repeatedly bow in the wind
subtly pointing to the mountainous horizon.
The eagle and osprey soar on the currents, 
deftly overseeing the creatures below.
Rivers beckon as they splash over stones,
singing the song of the previous season’s snows.  
Dragonfly flits from one wildflower to the next;
whitetails wander among the quaking aspen.
The land is home, free and untouched.
Nature feeds the souls of all who inhabit.
We learn from the land resilience and balance,
perseverance, renewal, longevity, provision.  
We are invited to witness without disturbing,
an offer extended to absorb the wonder abounding.
We leave with hesitance in reverence and gratitude,
lessons treasured in the heart and seated in the soul.

Clearwater River, North Idaho

I must confess, however, that I am struggling to keep up with the latest word innovations that I hear in the media I listen to or read online. I feel like social media has created its own foreign language. I find myself running to Google on a regular basis to find out what things mean. I know different generations have their own vocabulary, and I don’t want to lose my edge of being the “cool Grandma”. However, I have not embraced “six-seven” as it’s just dumb in my old lady opinion. It doesn’t even have a real meaning! Ridiculousness!

I often get my news through podcasts so I have started making a list of words to look up later. Give yourself a little quiz to see how many of these words or phrases you know and understand. They are words I have encountered recently:

Virtue signaling

Rage baiting

Psyop

Astroturfing

Slop

Sycophant

Post-truth

Looksmaxxing

Cringe

Mogged

Word salad

Thirst traps

Rizz

Allyship

Intersectionality

Dark Woke

Sentrism

At least I have identified myself as a “boomer” and ignore the online buzz that boomers are all selfish money hogs who are preventing the younger generations from being able to purchase homes. And I don’t feel one speck of guilt when I hop in my RV and head down the road spending our hard-earned money as we go. Sorry, not sorry, Gen-Xers, Millennials, Gen-Zers, and Gen-Alphas. Someday we may pass our savings on, but in the meantime, you will thank us when we pay our own way into the nursing home!

I’ve been writing this blog for five years now. I have written and published a book of poetry and photography. I facilitate a creative writing group on Substack where we write around weekly themes. I’m working on my second book and learning to watercolor paint to illustrate it. Most of you would probably say I have plenty of creativity flowing. Any of you who are creatives for recreation or as professionals already know that inspiration is the key to every creative endeavor. Granted, we can pound something out if we need to meet a deadline, but that doesn’t carry the same kind of joy and resonance as when we create from a base of enlightenment and true inspiration.

I usually find ways to spark my interest or passion by listening and exploring. My bandwidth for multiple projects is usually healthy. However, a couple of months ago, as I shared previously on this page, I began to feel overwhelmed with the commitments I had made around my writing. I mentioned in December that I would be posting less frequently because I needed to save my creative enthusiasm for my book. I had found that after writing a blog post and poem weekly, my book was sitting on the shelf, not because I didn’t have time to write, but because my inspiration was struggling to stretch enough to stay on top of all of it.

Photo Credit: Industrial Scripts

Because my nature is to fulfill commitments and stay the course, I wrestled with what needed to happen to refill my inspiration tank and devote myself to my book project. Writing a story is way different than gathering a collection of poems written over years and finding the right photos to illustrate them. Telling someone’s story involves immersion into the thoughts of your characters and the flow of their journey. With everything else I was writing, my brain ran out of juice to dive in the way I needed to for the book to be inspiring and captivating.

I have been able to spend the last six weeks or so just focusing on the progression of the book and the watercolor illustrations without feeling the pressure to keep up with everything else. It was hard to let go and admit that my commitments were just in my own head and not what was truly being asked of me. But the act of that release has brought amazing progress on a project that has become near and dear to my heart. I hope all my readers will enjoy the journey as well when I finally publish.

Photo Credit: Snow White Writes

This course in “The Artist’s Way” is a big commitment, too, but one I’m hoping will give me ample creative juice to continue to share my work in all the ways I’m passionate about. I’ll be participating in the course with others who want to grow their creative endeavors as well. To all my faithful readers here, I hope you will be patient with my process and I will continue to share when I am truly inspired and not just “coming up with something” to keep my internal commitment once a week. I’d be happy to host “guests” here who would like to share something meaningful and positive or want to grow their audience. After all, we’re all in this together and I believe that encouragement can be just the spark to set something inspiring ablaze. My hope is that taking this course will give me newfound passion for digging out all those light, bright stories that I love to bring to you here.

Again, thank you all for your patience and support. As I discover whatever I can glean from “The Artist’s Way”, I’ll be sure to share. And in the meantime, my characters are waiting for me to sit down and continue to write their stories. See you back here soon!

As I attempt re-entry back into sharing here on a regular schedule, I have opened a few blank pages and found myself trying to write about attempting to figure out how to process what is happening in the world. And at the same time I’m still looking for the glimmers of goodness that are everywhere but are being smoke bombed by the louder, darker seemingly endless barrage of discontent, anger, and bad news that we are inundated with day after day. When I open news sites and social media these days, it’s so heavy and even painful to take in. I can only do so much of that before my soul begins to shrivel.

Photo credit: vecteezy stock photo

If I am to be transparent as I always promise to try to be, I am finding it very frustrating and disturbing to attempt to have meaningful discussions around things happening in our world. So many rigid, thick lines have been drawn around this side or that side that now those of us who spend more time thinking than talking are being accused of not joining the cacophony of noise and not choosing one think tank or the other. Although we don’t magnetize ourselves into pre-determined compartments and tend to embrace values from many viewpoints, we are called all sorts of demeaning names if we don’t sound just like the herd some have joined and chosen to echo. I grew up on a cattle ranch, so forgive me for the metaphor, but the din of what I’m hearing is like cows who start mooing when one in the group does. Often they don’t know exactly why or what they are mooing about, but everybody else is mooing, so every cow chimes in.

If you know me at all, you know I have deep feelings and thoughts about what I see and hear going on in the world. I am paying attention but I don’t get loud about it. To some that may seem wrong and insist we have an obligation to speak. However, I am one who spends a lot of time listening and researching and looking at events and ideas from both sides as a bystander in the middle. I refuse to climb wholly through the barbed wire that keeps so many corralled in one set of ideas and dialogue. Real conversations and debates are slammed shut with intensity. We are not hearing each other. We are merely waiting for our chance to share our “truths” and diminish the truths of others who in some ways think differently.

All that said, I feel compelled to keep looking for the good that I know is all around us, but is softer and quieter. When was the last time you tuned out from the noise and listened for kindness, compassion and peace? I promise you it’s there, but you have to stop shouting to be able to hear it. And please stop accusing those who choose to live in those softer, quieter spaces of not caring. We just go about our caring in unnoticed acts of generosity of spirit and a quiet outpouring of love.

If you feel as I do that there is much to be grateful for in this life we are given, come back and join me here to point to those things. And if you don’t even have the strength left to point or speak, come soak up the positivity I intend to keep sprinkling about.

To quote Motel 6, “I’ll leave the light on for you.” Come find it here and choose to leave your light on, too. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Only light can drive out darkness.” Together we can shine so brightly there will be no room for even a shadow.

Last year at this time I wrote a post about the Latin word “resolvere”, which is the base of our current word “resolution”. The definition of “resolvere” is to release, undo or loosen. It carries with it the idea that in order to set a new path, we may have to let go of the former one.

I did work on letting go of some things last year that I feel were positive steps toward living my best life. I no longer give space in my life to judgement of myself or others, but instead seek unity, reconciliation and grace. I’ve also been trying harder to let go of limiting beliefs and cloudy view of self. Both of these things have freed me to look for the good in those around me and give myself room to learn and grow in all aspects of my life. A few weeks ago I let go of a few personal commitments that were keeping me from pursuing the new directions I want to go. That also involved releasing the pressure to perform and achieve which I have always carried around like unnecessary baggage.

Without those things shackling me down, I am excited for where this next year will take me in personal growth and creativity. I’m open to trying new things and looking for new avenues to think outside of the box for this page as well as the writers’ group I oversee. I want to spend more time in the great outdoors as I find that feeds my soul and fuels my inspiration. I’m going to push myself to get out and about more as I can tend to be a homebody that doesn’t challenge my comfortable routine.

My words for 2026 reflect those intentions and goals: explore, embrace, empower. Over the next few weeks I will start lists under those words that can be steps toward ending up where I hope to be internally and externally by the end of 2026. And I am determining right now that those steps will not involve performance or achievement as much as more freedom to make the most of the time I am given.

To all my faithful readers, I wish for you a year of loving, learning and growing! This life is too great to stay stagnant or frozen in fear, doubt, loneliness, or whatever else might be holding us back. I hope that you will share with me steps that you hope to take in 2026 to live your best life. You all deserve all the best life has to offer! Much love to each and every one of you.

I’ve let go of a few other things that I had done for years and amazingly, I don’t miss doing those either. One of these days I might write a whole blog post about the fact that it’s ok to quit doing some things that you “always” have done and how freeing that can be.

However, recently I had a few moments of introspection about different people who have come and gone throughout my life. Some I still do keep in touch with even if it’s just over social media. Some of them I miss interacting with, but for the most part, they were in my life for a reason and a season and those reasons and seasons have past.

Some people are very good at keeping up friendships and I’m so thankful for those friends of ours who do. Introverted me is just not one who reaches out to people I knew over the years but no longer see. There were the school friends, university friends, young married friends, school mom friends, former church friends, dance mom friends, baseball mom friends, band mom friends, workplace friends….and the list goes on. At some point in my life, like the tradition of sending annual Christmas cards, I let go of trying to keep up with some people, too.

I so appreciate the smaller group of close friends that have been in my life in this empty nester/retired stage. As we go tripping into our “senior” years (and unfortunately a few of us have tripped more than others), the commonalities we share now aren’t dependent upon an activity or environment, but upon mutual support. Even a few friends who we only see a time or two each year remain treasured in our hearts as we all grow older. And I have a whole community of online friends who add value to my life every day. Maybe we will all end up in the same “old folks” home one of these years. And perhaps the phase of life we are too rapidly barreling toward will put distance between us over time. But for now I appreciate that they no longer expect me to send Christmas cards.

To all who wandered in and out of my life over the years, thank you for the connections we felt at the time. Sometimes I see some I knew through the different decades who suddenly appear on my social media pages and I smile. The memories are a reminder that we need other people, but it’s also ok when they move on and you add new people for the times you are living. And if you’re still sending Christmas cards, I’m always glad to receive them. You just won’t be getting one back. I hope that’s ok.

From our house to yours, may whatever holiday you celebrate be blessed and joyful!

Drifts gently, slowly, down, down, down.

Time stands still and silence rises

Settling over the rush and sound.

Photo Credit: Vocal Media

I’ve been hearing a quiet message from a variety of sources that very soon I’ll be in the midst of wintering which is a great time to recharge, refill, renew, re-evaluate, rearrange, reinvent. I have often dreaded the dark, cold winter months, but this year I find myself looking forward to hunkering down, embracing the slower pace, and spending more time creating and concentrating on refueling what feeds my spirit.

The word “pause” keeps showing up in so many things recently I am reading and listening to. I tend to busy myself with all the things that make me feel like I’m doing, accomplishing, being productive and get nagging feelings of guilt when I’m just “doing nothing” or “wasting time”. I have this incessant need to feel useful. And I confess that sometimes I even make myself look busy when in actuality, I’m just going through the motions. I think I’m not very good at “pausing”. But I have found that when God wants to get a message across to me, I hear it from multiple sources.

Ok, God, I hear you. I’m coming to realize that all the self-discipline we attempt to make sure our time is well used is actually creating more guilt than joy in the living. “Put that phone down, get those steps in, journal for 20 minutes a day, breathwork, meditation, devotional reading, writing exercises” - all very good things. But I think maybe I’m working so hard to DO all of them that I’m not giving myself time to just BE.

Photo Credit: April Harris

There’s a line from song that I love, “Word of God, Speak” that says, “Finding myself at a loss for words, but the funny thing is, it’s ok.” I think I need to let myself be ok with not having anything to say. So this week I have nothing profound, or humorous, or life-changing to share except this: PAUSE. Join me in taking more time to just be still, allowing life to show you what is right in front of you, and finding meaning in the being instead of doing. Watch the wind blow clouds across the sky. Listen to the birds in the trees. Take in the sunset through your window. Hear your heart beating in rhythm with your own breath. Look closely at the amazing world you are living in and understand that you are an important part of it. Know that you are valued and you are loved.

I feel my season of wintering coming very soon. I’ll be sharing what the pauses teach me in the weeks ahead. Sometimes that might just be a poem, a photo or painting or quote that I’m focusing on. And I’ll try to be ok with being at a loss for words.

Photo credit: Media Marmalade

He sat on a stool at the corner of South 2nd and Beale,
a worn saxophone case at his feet.
His clothes were threadbare, his right shoe had a hole,
his foot steadily tapping with a nearby drum beat.

As I went to pass by, the sidewalk path narrowed,
I accidentally brushed up against his bent knee.
“So sorry” I said.  He looked up, our eyes met.
With the brightest of grins, “I’ll forgive for a small fee.” 

The warmth in the smile told a story of a man
who had lived life and found settled peace.
I returned the smile and asked, “You play?”
“Just my whole life” the grin never ceased. 

I was captured by his weathered dark skin and glow behind his eyes.
He didn’t ask for a handout, just for respect as a human.
I wanted to know more, to understand his heart’s beat
“I’d love to hear you play.  I have a few minutes if you can.”  

His smile expanded and the twinkle in his eyes grew,
he settled on his stool, his instrument at the ready.
He played the blues, but nothing about him was blue;
sweet sounds floated in the air, soulful and steady.

I learned something that day about sharing your passion.
Hearts don’t see color or differences but how we are the same.
Our smiles opened the door into each other’s world.
United in humanity, connection through music came.  

Photo Credit: Walter Magazine

I consider myself a bit of a wordsmith. I love language and especially when it’s used creatively. And because I have joined the writing world in a much deeper way in the past four years, I know a lot of wordsmiths. I read a lot from the minds of some really excellent writers. I have come to love the Substack platform not only for my own writing and sharing, but the fact that I can jump into the writings of others any time I want to learn or be inspired or think of things in new ways.

That said, I also see a lot of good and bad in what others “speak” into the world. Freedom of speech doesn’t always mean that the words we hear are worth listening to. All of the writers that I end up following either help me to see things in another light or they lift me up with positivity and action steps to make the world a better place. If I find that a post leaves me feeling angry, agitated or disturbed internally, I tend to pass right on by and will likely not visit that author’s page again. It’s not that I object to reading things I disagree with. In all honesty, sometimes those are the ones that cause me to pause and ponder the most. But there’s something about words that can elevate or tear down or even break someone to the core. There’s a lot of all of that going on in the world right now.

I recently heard a quote that hit me right in the heart. It was part of a podcast by Mark Groves, who I mentioned in my last post. I rewound that part of the podcast a few times and then wanted to shout, “YESSSSS!” once I absorbed the meaning. He credited Brene Brown, who is a master of words. Take a minute to let this sink in: “Dehumanization always begins with language.” The Oxford Dictionary defines language like this: “The principal method of human communication consisting of words used in a structured and conventional way and conveyed by speech, writing or gesture.”

Most of us have some understanding of the power of words. Words spoken to a child often stay with that child throughout their life, especially the very positive and the very negative ones. But think deeper. What does it mean to dehumanize a person? In its very essence, it means to diminish, dismiss, discriminate. It means to reduce someone to being subhuman and robs them of their very right to exist. Heard any of those types of words lately? I could give a few examples, but I think most of us are hearing them all over the news so often that they don’t even carry a lot of weight anymore. They are tossed out like confetti at a ticker tape parade.

But they SHOULD carry a heavy load of heartbreak. Just because we are free to say them doesn’t mean we should. And if you’re like me, you are hearing them from leaders who should be the examples we have chosen or elected them to be. I’m ashamed of the dehumanization I hear so often now. It leaves me feeling sick inside. It should make all of us feel sick inside.

When I started this blog space, I promised to point to positivity and light. Not everything I write and share is sunshine and rainbows, but it is my deep hope that you can find things to celebrate here. I truly do believe that there is more good in the world than bad even if you have to dig a little deeper to find it. If that’s what you are looking for in your reading, please join me here and add your thoughts and ideas. We all need more language that points to the good we know exists, in God, in others, in ourselves. Be conscious of your words. Make people feel valued and not dehumanized. Spread hugs not hate. And I will continue to do my best to keep digging out the good and sharing it with all of you.