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Travel and adventure
“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson Now that summer is here, our thoughts turn to road trips and other vacation plans. When I was editor of a country inn travel magazine, I had many opportunities to visit historic sites across this country. And when our son was in his early teens, Doug and I took him on trips to the British Isles and Mediterranean countries. Travel teaches us a lot about ourselves — as well as the world around us. I often discovered that the places I enjoyed most were the charming…
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What we remember
“Memory fades, memory adjusts, memory conforms to what we think we remember.” ~Joan Didion When you repeat an old story at a family gathering, your parent or another relative might say, That’s not exactly how it happened. In my memoir workshops, we spend a fair amount of time discussing how memories are altered over time. Quite often, our recollection of an event is different from someone else’s, especially if the story involves a perpetrator and a victim. This applies to humorous stories as well as tragic ones. Retrospect isn’t always reliable. It all boils down to these questions: What’s the emotional truth of your memory? Why is this particular story…
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Being neighborly
“All will concede that in order to have good neighbors, we must also be good neighbors. That applies in every field of human endeavor.” ~Harry S. Truman Whenever I need company, I don’t have to look beyond my own neighborhood. Here, it’s easy to find enough friends to host a book club or a potluck, or meet for a last-minute lunch date. And there’s always someone willing to water your garden while you’re away. Over the years, we’ve gathered for graduations, weddings, and funerals. We’ve built a community. “How do you know so many of your neighbors?” someone asked me recently. The short answer: It took a little time and lots…
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Compass of the heart
“It is the wilderness in the mind, the desert wastes in the heart, through which one wanders lost and a stranger. When one is a stranger to oneself, then one is estranged from others, too. If one is out of touch with oneself, then one cannot touch others.” ~Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea Anne Morrow Lindbergh earned her reputation as a fearless aviator and explorer. At the same time, the diaries and books she wrote were maps of her emotional journey. In her nonfiction classic, Gift from the Sea, she charted ways to navigate the challenging terrain of marriage, work, and motherhood. We lose ourselves when we spend our…
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Kitchen creativity
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Second helpings
“That thing that you are obsessing about — no one else is obsessing about it with the same intensity as you are. People are thinking about themselves. Remember that, and move through your day.” ~Gretchen Hydo Ages ago, I had a college room mate who was too shy to get back in line for second helpings at meal time. She worried that others in the cafeteria would judge her for overindulging. Enabler that I was, I often returned to the line to fetch a second omelette or slice of chocolate cake for her. Truth is, other people are usually preoccupied with their own issues and their own self-image — and…
