Beyond sight
Life is full of challenges of many kinds. For some, the most monumental ones present themselves a good ways down the road. In my case, life's main challenge made itself k... »
Personal Accounts
Lessons from the medley
I was chatting over Skype with a friend while watching the 4x100 m medley swimming relay at the Olympics, when something one of the commentators said stumped me. “What’s... »
A true Good Samaritan
Recently, after reading an article on the BBC News website[ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12043294], I found myself faced with a few tough questions. The article, a... »
My life’s heroes
It was 1977, and Karl and I had left Germany in a camper the previous year. Our journey had already taken us through Italy, what was then Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Iran... »
Martha’s transformation
I first met Martha as she was sitting on a bench in the park where I was taking my baby for a walk. My husband and I had been married for two years, and we had just had o... »
A mother’s choice
None of her friends or family understands why she has done it, and most of them would like to shake her out of her foolishness. Their objections make sense. After all, Ma... »
Teacher unaware
The weather was perfect, and most of my friends were looking forward to a relaxing holiday weekend, but not me. A recent bout of illness had left me far behind in my scho... »
My moment of glory
During the spring of my junior year in high school, some girls suggested we practice for the junior-senior basketball game, and I thought it might be fun, so I tagged alo... »
The gift of listening
I had just moved to a new country with my husband and family. That meant new schools for the children and a new job for my husband. It was a difficult time of adjustment... »
Pausing to care
I don’t know how she did it, but the cashier's eyes peered right into mine. I’d been discovered. I had tried to avoid eye contact as I was finishing the grocery shopping.... »
Net worth and breeding patterns of the common hug
The signs were nothing but rectangles of white-painted plywood adorned with bright red words proclaiming, “ABRAZOS GRATIS” (“FREE HUGS”), along with flowers, hearts, and... »
Plucking feathers
In my childhood farmyard in Pleasant Hill, New York, we always had an abundance of chickens roaming around looking for worms and bugs, scratching the ground for seeds, an... »
Long-tempered
I used to have my own definitions of longsuffering and patience. Longsuffering was putting up with something, and patience was putting up with nothing. The one was expres... »