looking at him makes me laugh
Life can be funny without trying to be funny. My Chihuahua, Pip, has been surviving a serious eye problem, which requires drops and oral pain medication several times a day. He’s wearing what my friend calls, ‘the cone of shame,’ a blue headdress tied with a bow, intended to keep him from rubbing his eye. It’s sad to see him in that, but it’s funny too, which made me consider the benefits of humor. Continue reading “Pip’s gauntlet” »
not everything has to be a battle
Someone told me that roots of communication obstacles came from our families of origin. I agree that environment plays a gigantic role in how people communicate. It’s also possible to retrain ourselves to expand positive communication. Sometimes it’s just about silence. Continue reading “right or happy?” »
just because I want it to be true doesn’t mean it is
M.Scott Peck was a Quaker who became a psychiatrist, and wrote a bestselling book, The Road Less Traveled. Peck’s career was devoted to understanding human nature, and he also worked in prisons, which formed the basis of another book called People of the Lie. Continue reading “little, big, white, black” »
Come on People, Love one another right now
It’s the fiftieth anniversary of San Francisco’s Summer of Love. My friend and I were there, wore our beads and long hair, before starting freshman year of high school. We smoked marijuana and played on Golden Gate Park’s kiddy merry-go-round while rock and roll music played on the greens, and positive energy flowed like a river. Continue reading “Summer of Love” »
trying to fix the outside doesn’t change what’s inside
My seventh grade friend Lindy and I hung around Tiburon’s Angel Island ferry dock on Main Street’s Penny Arcade behind Bird and Hound Clothing. Goofing off, we watched penny movies for a dime and played foosball. Continue reading “What feeling ugly does” »
two tunnels into Tiburon
North tunnel was the longest of the two tunnels heading to Tiburon, extending a quarter of a mile under a mountain between Bel Aire subdivision and Corte Madera, straight and pitch black in its middle. Continue reading “knowing kids” »
kids think they know what’s going on
Our whole school practiced Air Raid drills during the Bay of Pigs conflict and the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Continue reading “our time” »
attitude is everything
“How are you this fine day?”
I remember my mother asking a clerk that question, and she received a warm smile by asking. My mom decided she to be nice that day, and people were nice to her. Continue reading “make it a great day” »
hello, goodbye, to feel or no
Time runs its course, decades come and go, and sometimes we lurch forward into profound realization. Continue reading “love and lose or lose without love” »
It was important to love the Beatles
My mother made me take accordion lessons in the early 1960’s, and I barely survived the dweebness of playing the Can-Can at a kid’s neighborhood party. I was in hell, standing in front of cool guys sitting in folding chairs, watching me squeeze a white mother-of-pearl box back and forth, wanting to die. Continue reading “difficulties of being hip” »