Life Through My Lens
Building your life like a robin builds its nest
Watching the animals that pass through our backyard gives me great insight into myself and human nature overall. With spring inching its way in, the songbirds are returning to build their nests. As a research-addicted, procrastinating author, with a BS in Biology, I could not help but watch a video of a robin building her nest. It occurred to me that the process has a lot to teach us about building our lives.
It’s raining. Or is it? Challenge your perspective
I check the weather report every morning. It will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that I do not simply listen to the report on the news. I check the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service website. Doesn’t everyone? I’m not planning to scale Mt. Rainier or do a little ocean kayaking. I just want to pick the best time for a walk and make sure I am dressed appropriately. Imagine my delight today, when I read 46° F and increasing clouds. Even with the windchill, it would still be above freezing. . .
My new goal: Beat Fredrik Backman in Best in Show.
Last spring, I wanted to be Fredrik Backman. I don’t mean famous. Or Swedish. Or brilliant. Or a guy. No, I wanted to be the writer whose words could cause a quinquagenarian former high school principal, not prone to emotional outbursts, to weep openly in an auto repair shop full of men to awkwardly examine the ceiling tiles while praying for their trucks to be done soon.
I’ve been devouring his work. His novels knot my heart and mind until I can’t unravel where all the feelings start. I have to pause and do that Navy Seal breathing strategy from TikTok just to be able to analyze how he can turn ten ordinary words into a tornado of universally felt emotion. I read three of his novels before I realized that I’ve been thinking about this all wrong. And not just because I cannot actually be Fredrik Backman.
I am reconceptualizing my goal modeled roughly after a dog show.
Embracing clouds in the sky and in life.
“The bluest skies you’ve ever seen in Seattle." That lyric, from Bobby Sherman’s theme song to Here Come the Brides, has been stuck in my head since I was five years old. It is so true and so not true. And I am grateful that it is both. Last night, my husband and I...
Re-inventing yourself—or an organization or a nation—only works if you face the truth.
The concept of re-inventing oneself seems consummately American to me. As the grandchild and great-grandchild of immigrants, this idea, that I am not now all that I can be, was not merely passed down through generations of storytellers but branded on my heart and...
Things may be strongest where they’re broken, but they could still use a little support . . . or what I learned from an arthritic foot.
Louise Penny once wrote, “Things are strongest where they’re broken.” There are so many jewels sprinkled throughout Penny’s writing. Sentences formed without adornment that illuminate a feeling or belief so genuine and universal you wonder why you hadn’t thought to...