Roots seek their path through the ground of where they are nestled, marking generations of their families, expanding with the seasons and taking their time over the decades. They wander blindly but knowingly in search of water and sustenance, robbing the earth’s soil of her nutrients with an undeniable quest for growth. I was born a Chadwick, the DNA evident [...]
The blueprints tell me the once new house would never be as it was in 1964. The thin white lines drafted on blueprint are no longer virginal. The floors have been released of their coverings and footprints are disintegrated into the now thin air. The furniture has been relocated out of the house to new rooms and inhabitants are sitting [...]
Is it a watercolor, or an oil? The color, even, deep, everywhere. It makes you pick your head up, hold it high and turn round and round filling your self with the best blue you’ve ever seen. It is an optical illusion It can be seen for miles in the open air. If you stare at it, you can’t tell [...]
I heard the call. It wasn’t a whisper or a delicate voice or loud words urging me to transcribe thoughts to paper where I hoped to see ideas born into stories. The call went off like an alarm, telling me it was time to awaken my spirit. I received my calling when I was fifteen, accompanied by a pink hardcover [...]
“And we’re just about there where we need to turn around.”“Already? Really?”Flight Instructor Michael instructed me to turn left as he pointed to the circles on the instrument panel of where I needed to take the plane. Turning away from the city was difficult. I felt comforted that the city kept pace with me on my right, standing tall and [...]
Starting from right to left, “Let’s go ahead and flip that switch, then the next two to the left, good,” until we got to the far left on the panel. The ignition. “Here’s the key, go ahead and turn us on,” he said. I chuckled because hey, at least I knew where to put a key. The engine ignited in [...]
“Oh hi fellas. Good morning,” I said, interrupting a male threesome. Conversation stopped and heads lifted. No sound came from their mouths except for the short cropped, dark-haired man seated. “Hi, Nancy,” he said as he stood up from his desk. The remaining two turned heads first to him and then to me. They walked out of the office, passing [...]
I’m no longer fifty. I was no longer fifty about eighteen days ago.At the end of my fortieth decade, I finally felt at peace in my own skin and proud at earning a perspective of seeing my world as half full, not half empty.But who was I kidding? I used to say after turning the half century, I would count [...]
When the above pictured house was built (1965) there was just enough foliage planted to round out the squareness in corners and soften and fill an otherwise stark landscape. I was only 3 then, my brother, Tim, 6. I wondered if that was Tim standing in the den window just to the left of the garage. It does look like [...]
In a recent column by Barbara Brotman in the Chicago Tribune she told her readers to not underestimate the power of doing nothing. I agree. But with an additional twist.I know you are probably asking how could anyone possibly do nothing. There's always something. And with the excess of mobile devices in hands, its use should take up any floating [...]