flawed but authentic

“You are special” “You’re a special mom” “On your special day” the cards say. We all want to be special.
I find my peace in learning that I am not special. I am pretty much the same as everyone else. We all want the same things underneath it all: to be free from fear and from [...]

I think I have mentioned StoryCorps here before - a mobile recording studio that goes around the United States, collecting true stories for archival in the Library of Congress.
Every Friday on the way to work, I hear the StoryCorps music at the end of the local NPR station’s broadcast of “Morning Edition.” I pull into my [...]

Mrs. G. and her daughter were out shoe shopping running important errands months back. Mrs. G’s daughter was driving (she was due to get her license in a couple of weeks), and Mrs. G. was drilling her on all the safety tips she should know before she backed out of the driveway and headed off [...]

Routine can lull our minds to sleep.
Just for fun, at the beginning of the day, pick a color. Any color.
Throughout the day, look for that color around you.
This little practice can wake up your brain and show you things you have never noticed before.

A few days back, KarenTH sent an e-mail to share an article she had read on NPR.org.
(You should go read the article. And if you have twelve minutes, you can listen to the Talk of the Nation Broadcast at the same link.)
In a nutshell, an online magazine asked readers to summarize their lives in six [...]

1. I forgive myself for not being able to lose those final ten pounds.
2. I forgive myself for not reading as much as I used to.
3. I forgive myself for dreaming of a world in which parents allow their kids to be kids.
4. I forgive myself for spending too much money on sock yarn.
5. I [...]

I’ve been feeling a bit out of touch.
I don’t know if any particular skirt length is out of style right now.
I have no idea which cell phone would work best for me.
I know nothing about the latest fiction.
I know that my camera can do many things, but I can’t tell you how to do anything [...]