Tag: gratitude

How is it that things can look so drastically different based on our ever-changing outlook?

Like the little park bench that’s tucked along a pebble path and surrounded by colorful blossoms. It looks so quaint and inviting, until that becomes the place where your boyfriend chooses to dump you.

Then it looks rusty and worn out and covered in bird poop.

Some things ... Read More


For 16 years, people have been asking me, “What’s it like to be a coach’s wife?”

For 16 years, my answer has been, “Um… I don’t know. It’s good?”

The thing is, I don’t know any different. Saul is the only husband I’ve ever had, so I’ve never had the opportunity to compare my husband, the Division 1 College Basketball Coach, with ... Read More


I am about to rat out my fellow columnist. In a good way, of course.

Bob Lind has been writing the Neighbors column in the Fargo Forum since before I was born.

Just kidding.

But he has been writing it for quite a while, right around 20 years in fact.

His words introduce us to the people, places and things that are right under ... Read More


It’s funny how the same circumstances can look so different when you take a moment to stroll around the perimeter of a problem.

My daughter turned 13 yesterday. Well, sort of yesterday — she’s a Leap Day baby, so she only gets a birthday once every four years. Don’t feel too sorry for her. With no February 29th, she decided to ... Read More


I went to visit my father recently. He had a stroke about 9 months ago and is now a permanent resident in an assisted living facility. He hasn’t yet regained the use of the right side of his body, so he relies heavily on my step-mom and his nurses to tend to his every need.

Every several months I have the ... Read More


I have a confession. People in uniform make me nervous.

I’m fine with a doctor’s coat or a fireman’s jacket, but put a police officer’s crisp navy shirt and peaked dress cap in front of me, and I get a little shaky. Maybe I have a deeply hidden guilty conscience. I’ve never had a bad experience with authority; it’s just that ... Read More


Something freaky has been happening. First, I have to explain that I have an obsession with license plates. Not all license plates; just the ones that begin with GGG.

About a year ago I saw my first GGG license plate and for some reason, it triggered a response in my mind. I immediately thought GGG: that stands for God the Father, ... Read More


It is finished. The reconstruction is done. My breast cancer journey is over.

Scratch that. I’m not sure it’ll ever really be over. As long as I have to deal with tingling toes and hot flashes and my hair thinning out as a result of my anti-cancer medication, the reminder of this ordeal will be in the back of my mind.

That’s ... Read More


Who is in control of your body? Your time? Your decisions?

I have a friend who asked me an intriguing question. She said, “Are selflessness and kindness the same thing?”

I thought about her question all day. Then I thought about her question the next day and the next. My brain wants to produce a black and white answer, but my heart ... Read More


More often than not, when we do random acts of kindness, we never hear about it again. We don’t ever truly know the impact it made on the other person. We just have to trust that kindness worked whatever magic in that person’s life that was needed at that exact moment.

But every once in a while, an act of kindness ... Read More