I remember when my burdens rolled away; I had carried them for years, night and day. When I sought the blessed Lord, And I took Him at His word, Then at once, all my burdens rolled away. —Minnie A. Steele, 1908 My father’s hands were always covered in black grease from hours spent bent over...
…Those drifters days are past me now I’ve got so much more to think about Deadlines and commitments What to leave in, what to leave out Against the wind I’m still runnin against the wind I’m older now but still runnin against the wind Bob Seeger, Against the Wind, 1980 Bob...
I love to see my friends’ vacation pictures on Facebook. In the years before social media, it was rare to see such pictures — at least in my world. What about yours? I do recall my friend Sandy doing a slideshow of her trip to the Holy Land. That was around 1976. My Sunday School...
Of Scrapbooks and 1980s Pen Pals Here is my old scrapbook from my high school and college days. The days before mounting squares and acid-free paper were easily found. I glued and Scotch-taped cards, letters, pictures, track ribbons, corsage ribbons, and ephemera to the gray, construction paper...
I took Sullivan and Bridgette to Ingrid’s Bakery last night for St. Patrick’s Day cookies, cream cheese hamantaschens and Turkish macaroons. I’ve been going to Ingrid’s since I was 19. That was back during the late 1980s when the placed was owned and operated by the...
Ivywild Elementary School, Colorado Springs In the spring of 1974, I attended Ivywild Elementary School in Colorado Springs. My time there was very brief — maybe two weeks at the most — but the building captured my imagination. Ivywild was built in 1912. Being there was like stepping...
In the spring of 1993, thousands of people of all ages held hands and formed a circle around Tinker Air Force Base. They gathered outside the fence wearing T-shirts that said SAVE TINKER and waved flags and held signs. In just a few days they would discover Tinker’s fate when the Base...
This commentary originally aired on KOSU. It was like a scene from the winter of a Russian revolution. Every twig and wire, branch, and street covered in thick layers of ice. It was December 2007, and Oklahoma City was like a statue of frozen roads and lifeless houses. We lost power and were...
When the whistle caught the night And shook silence from my life As the last train rolled toward the moon… –From Dennis DeYoung and Desert Moon When I was 14, too old to play dolls and too young for old people to realize it, I walked from my house in Southeast Kansas to Zula’s...
How happy is the blameless vestal’s lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each pray’r accepted, and each wish resign’d. –Alexander Pope In early 1999, while doing my best to cope with my impending divorce, I came across a...
It’s been 14 years since the Oklahoma City Bombing. Here are some pictures I took the other day. Oh, it seemed like a holy place, Protected by amazing grace And we would sing right out loud The things we could not say… –From Sad Cafe by the...
“This is the way we were: in our growing up and in our marrying and in our living and in our dying.” –From Thornton Wilder’s Our Town On Monday, I stood on a steep hill and stared through a stand of sky-high palm trees down upon the San Gabriel and Sycamore valleys. This is the...
[…] with minimal disruption, echoing the parenting attitudes of previous generations, such as the latchkey kids of the 70s and 80s. This…
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Hello, Jill! It's so nice to receive a message from a majorette. No doubt, it was a grand experience for…
I was the majorette at my Catholic high school (William V. Fisher Catholic) in Central Ohio. Fall 1993-97! Loving these…
Thank you so much. This post was one of the hardest I ever wrote because the trip was difficult. I…