Lessons from watching a youth basketball game — It’s Saturday, and I’m returning home from attending my grandchildren’s recreation league basketball games. I love watching these elementary-age kids’ games. Sure they aren’t as exciting as the older grand kids’ varsity games. However, they offer a perspective that the high school games don’t. All the players on the rec…

Even if it’s a choice of attitude — A bunch of balloons blew across the pond and lodged in the tree outside my cabin window. I have a choice to make. Do I see the balloons as foreign objects littering the woods? …

He’s gonna find out whose naughty or nice? — You better watch out You better not cry You better not pout I’m telling you why Santa Claus is coming to town He’s making a list, Checking it twice; Gonna find out who’s naughty or nice. Santa Claus is coming to town Santa Clause is Comin’ To Town, written by…

KTHT Advent Calendar PROMPT 6: What’s the quiet, yet powerful message that you know, deep down, your heart is trying to reveal to you? Every person comes into this world as an indescribably lovely bundle of pure love, light, and joy. I know this to be true about every baby…

KTHT Advent Calendar Prompts: Day 4 — How can hurt can be cleansed and restored, bringing about the return of hope and healing? Growing up, the arrival of Sears & Roebuck’s Christmas catalog always ushered in the holiday season. My siblings and I spent hours circling items and writing our initials beside the toys we wanted. Of course, we rarely got anything we circled, but it never seemed to matter. …

100 When I Was Growing Up Stories Prompt# 33 The Family Car Ah, The Family Car A Time for Backseat Bickering and Bonding My favorite family car story is about my dad when he was a boy. Cars had recently become more commonplace in rural New Hampshire, and my dad was fascinated with how…

“Food is symbolic of love when words are inadequate” — Alan D. Wolfelt — I hear the sound of the plate on the metal table outside my bedroom door. The noise is followed by my husband saying, “Your breakfast is served.” I put on my mask, open the door, grab the plate, and head back into my tiny cabin bedroom. I can’t believe I…

Prompt # 31 Housecleaning I grew up in a very messy, unorganized house. It wasn’t a hoarder home; it was more of a project-based house. Our home had books, papers, motors needing repair, and woodworking tools covering every horizontal surface. My dad used those tools to build a rowboat in…

It is the promise of laurel flowers, blueberries, and pond lilies that see me through the grey days when winter refuses to loosen its grip on the pond. After the last laurel petal has fallen into the pond and the white bells on the blueberry bushes have turned into little…