Why is it that single, moody people make the best murder mystery detectives? All of my favorites are unattached: Kinsey Millhone, Harry Bosch, Archy McNally, Nero Wolfe and his investigator Archie Goodwin, Lady Emily Ashton. I’ll grant you they are not all moody. But Kinsey Millhone certainly is. Throughout the twenty-two books she is divorced…

Many years ago, motivational speaker Michael Wickett made this observation during a talk I attended, and it has stayed with me ever since. If what we experience is created by our own thoughts, and if the quality of our daily lives is determined by what we think, then instead of constructing our world by our…

Text, a verb meaning to send someone words on a mobile device, like a cell phone. I admit, I’m frequently troubled when language undergoes transformation. Wrote becomes texted, and this expression is so foreign to me, it feels wrong. Yet, when nouns become verbs there is an excitement about the subtle change in movement. In…

FREE I plan to be spontaneous. It will be so fun so free I will be clever and alive Perhaps I could dance at the local park, race go-carts or zoom out of town and drop in for a sky diving lesson Which shall I choose? while I keep out of trouble, arrive home on…

I think of the old song by The Association, “Cherish is the word I use to describe . . .” The word brings to mind things romantic. “I cherish you,” meaning to treasure, to hold dear, and love, love, love. We can cherish our children, but I wouldn’t use the expression in reference to things…

For the most part, I’ve found shock to be a negative experience. When I was five, my mom shocked me by announcing that my bother and I would no longer be allowed to play with the twin brothers down the street. Mom, whose warm, generous heart and positive spirit never excluded anyone, had decided that…