For most of my life, I was in pursuit of the perfect family Christmas. I get the feeling that many of you share this same desire. Falling short of that expectation was the cause of a lot sadness for me for many years. And while recovery began to help me see things a little differently, […]
We were sitting in the living room one evening when Lucy, the 12-year old dachshund climbed up into my lap. She flipped over onto her back and began pushing her head up and into the space between my head and my chest, while wagging her tail furiously. It was very sweet. “Good girl,” I said, […]
Welcome to the second week in Advent! I hope that last week you were able to find the hope that we seek as we look for God. This week we turn our gaze to ourselves. Starting with today’s readings, we are asked to make the path straight. Often when we walk into a 12-step room for the first […]
I used to have an unconscious belief that Christmas was supposed to be about the miracles that I would see on television. It was as if everyone’s problems would find their solutions at the last minute on Christmas Eve or Christmas day. Homes would have just the right decorations, food looked as if a gourmet […]
Tomorrow marks the beginning of Advent. This year I want to enter into this practice with great intention. I realize that our programs of recovery teaches us many of the same things that we learn during Advent. I’d like to invite you to join me. Recovery is really all about relationships: to God first, self […]
We are so divided as a nation. I kept thinking that I should do something about it. I just didn’t know what I could do. Then, I began to remember the tools of my twelve-step program. If I were to think like a twelve-stepper, I would need to accept that I can’t change another person. The […]
My husband’s heart went into atrial fibrillation last week, so we spent twenty-four hours in the hospital to treat his problem. His nurse during the last few hours there, told us that even though she had become a nurse late in life, she still had one last dream to pursue: being a writer. “Oh wow, […]
When my children were very young, I watched the Oprah Winfrey show every afternoon. One day, her show featured a guest named Jane Elliot, a third grade teacher who came up with the well-known, ‘brown-eyes, blue-eyes’ experiment where kids were separated into groups based on a physical characteristic with one group treated with kindness while […]
Five days ago, the reality of our current situation hit me. I had no past experience to draw from. Fearing a stay at home order, I went to the grocery store to get a few staples. I had a plan. I was going to buy bread, but if they were out of bread, I’d buy […]
Warning! If you get on social media, do so at your own risk. After cleaning all morning, I sat down to eat lunch and went online. The pandemic has taken over the newsfeed. Opinions are all over the map. Toilet paper shelves have been emptied. Bleach is hard to find. According to some, if you […]