Nailing the Back-up Move

I’m sometimes of the misguided impression that I have some decent skills in backing my car up. Now that I have a smaller vehicle and feel somewhat smug at times in my ability to parallel park in tight city spots, I believe that this translates into being able to back up straight or adequately gauge space constraints. All of this is quickly laid to rest in one simple trip within my own small town, to our solid waste facility and recycling center (a.k.a. the town dump).

While I don’t often travel there these days, blessed instead with a series of sons who have taken over that task, there are times when it’s far more efficient to use two vehicles. This time of year is one of them, because like every other household in town, we accumulated a ton of trash due to the holidays, from wrapping paper remnants to lots of empty beverage bottles. ‘Tis the season for long lines at the dump, and having to plan out a solid chunk of time to make multiple trips, as my youngest son learned this past weekend. Offering up my vehicle as well this weekend, he plied the interior to capacity with cardboard and empty boxes, all of which have their own large window in the waste building, and loaded up the trunk with trash bags, which go into yet another window.

Continue reading “Nailing the Back-up Move” →

A Universal Challenge: What If?

I know a lot of people who do good things in their work, and intentionally so. They choose the organization they work for solely based on the mission and I find that admirable. I wonder though, what are they doing beyond that in the rest of their lives for others? Please know, I don’t ask that question in judgment, but rather in curiosity.

You see, I think when we choose what we perceive to be an honorable line of work in an organization of which we truly admire the mission, we don’t just aspire to work there because of what it does; it’s a real benefit to us as well. We get to work somewhere that we can believe in and we are no doubt proud of ourselves on some level for making that choice. It’s kind of a win-win all around. We get to do good and feel good about it. But is it enough? Continue reading “A Universal Challenge: What If?” →

Intentional Giving

I recently read the book “29 Gifts,” which was recommended and given to me by a very dear friend. She and I often talk about spiritual matters, addressing a lot of the issues and questions we have in our own lives, many of which involve living a life that truly matters in ways big and small. She knew this book would be of interest to me and it certainly was.

I will admit, when I started reading the book, which is written by Cami Walker who was in a pretty desperate state with MS, I was a bit disheartened by her. She was a whiner, and although I knew she was going through some very difficult days, she struck me a self-involved and someone who was feeling very sorry for herself. Her husband was clearly devoted and doing all that he could to make her life easier and she had a wonderful mom in her court as well helping with the care giving, yet she persisted in feeling miserable about the terrible, terrible thing that had happened to her. While I don’t deny she was in a bad state physically, I hated the attitude she had. Then something happened.

Continue reading “Intentional Giving” →