The Last Appointment The boy was just two years old in 1969. I was 10 and sweeping hair down the middle of the black and white tile floor wearing my roller skates when he came into the barbershop dressed like he was going to church, both his parents holding him …

In the U.S., it is the day after Thanksgiving, a reminder to be thankful every day, not just the third Thursday in November. I have mixed feelings about Thanksgiving, which my friend Victor calls “Thanksgrieving,” as evidenced by my Thanksgrieving Haiku: Let’s ask the people The pilgrims slaughtered en masse …

Sometimes (often), our plans don’t work out the way we want them to in the moment, but we can see years later that they worked out for the best after all. That kind of perspective takes the distance of time. That unveiling isn’t instantaneous and in the meantime, years can …

Today is author Kurt Vonnegut’s 100th birthday. I thought it only right to revisit this story I wrote in 2006 about him: “I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.” – Duke Ellington I entered a writing contest six months ago with “Laid to Rest in …

It is hard for me to ask for help. It always has been. Stubborn and strong-willed as a little orange-haired child, I was the one who was always brave and independent. It’s no wonder that Pippi Longstocking was my hero. I never asked for help, and even as an adult, …

I do not look the way I want to look. I do not feel the way I want to feel. I do not walk the way I want to walk, or hike the way I want to hike. I do not run the way I used to run. I do …

I took last week off to be fully present at my Life is a Verb Camp. And inside Camp, I took whatever time I needed to remain fully present with people. That meant that I took myself out of socializing and into quiet solitude a few times during the weekend when …

“Never confuse movement with action.” – Ernest Hemingway I don’t remember ever being this busy. Not even that time in the fourth grade when I was starring as Johnny Appleseed in our class play, learning to play the autoharp, and simultaneously creating my report on Missouri, the “Show Me” state, in …

photo by Irene Young As I prepare for Life is a Verb Camp in just a few weeks, I am reposting here some of my favorite blog posts from 37days and favorite poems. I’ll be back in my writing chair after Camp! And always read poems aloud. The World Has …

Over the next few weeks, as I prepare for Life is a Verb Camp in October, I am going to use this space to replay some of my favorite essays from Life is a Verb and some of my favorite poems so I can breathe a bit. Self-care is important. …