October 21, 2018
Parenthood. What a roller-coaster ride. Saturday our kids competed against other Catholic schools in the Pittsburgh Diocesan Championship at the Lawrence County Fairgrounds. We had high hopes for The Animal, who as a 3rd-grader has shown great promise, regularly beating runners 2 or 3 grades older. Honestly, I just wanted him to try his best. But I knew…
October 20, 2018
This morning the kids had their Diocesan cross country championships up at the Lawrence County Fairgrounds. We arrived bright and early, at 8:15 a.m., and braved the cold, wind, and periodic rain as we cheered on our beloved Sts. Peter & Paul Pacers. Luckily we had coffee and Oram’s donuts to keep the adults warm and happy…
October 19, 2018
Today we’re on location for the October Mindfulness Challenge. The location: Studo H in Monaca, Pa. My good friend Kelly recently opened the space as a creative/event venue, which you can rent for a creative workshop, team-building session, poetry reading, etc. Tonight, however, it is a private gathering for Kelly, her husband Daniel, and my family. Basically…
October 18, 2018
As we’re a little over halfway through the month, I thought it would be a good time to assess my October Mindfulness Challenge thus far… I haven’t checked social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) in 18 days now, and, honestly, I haven’t missed it. All the time I would’ve spent mindlessly scrolling my feeds has been put…
October 17, 2018
Today it was windy and chilly enough in The Beav to don my winter coat as I strolled over to the library to do some work. And I loved it. In fact, the older I get, the more I’m realizing that I’m a cold-weather person. I like wearing pants and warm sweaters and cozying up to a…
October 16, 2018
Oh boy, I’m so excited! My sister sent me a transistor radio in the mail today! (No, this isn’t a blog post from 1987.) Why would anyone want a transistor radio nowadays, you ask? Apparently, you don’t have kids whose completely misguided and inconsiderate soccer league administrators, for some ungodly reason, decided to schedule games at 1…
October 15, 2018
In doing meditation, one of the things they always talk about is being mindful of your body and how it feels. Mine feels like its 80 years old. This writing stuff, turns out, is backbreaking work. Seriously. I can’t remember a day when I didn’t have back pain. Most of the time it’s been upper back pain…
October 14, 2018
Well, I didn’t write for the past two days. (Did anyone even notice?) But I think that’s OK. I know I pledged to write at least for a little bit every day during this October Mindfulness Challenge. But sometimes, no matter what our intentions, life just has other plans. And the more I think about the idea of…
October 11, 2018
One thing I’d really like to be more mindful about is eating. I eat fast. Way too fast. Like a-school-of-piranha-feasting-on-a-side-of-beef fast. As a result, rarely if ever do I fully appreciate and enjoy my meal. (And I’m sure it doesn’t exactly heighten the dining experience of those around…
October 10, 2018
One thing I’ve always tried to be mindful about is my kids. I’ve always tried to be present in and appreciative of each and every moment I have with them while they’re still young. This isn’t always easy, of course. Take when The Animal decided to use his head to obliterate the glass on our oven…
