Tag: kindness

My husband, some hotshot. Saul got to speak the other night at the Athens High School Senior Athletic Banquet. The speech itself was good, but I got the benefit of hearing all of the rough drafts. Most of them were takes off of Chris Farley’s Saturday Night Live character who talks about living in a van down by the river. ... Read More

I was sitting in my basement a few weeks ago with tears streaming down my face. The room was dark except for the glow of the television. It was a Saturday night and I was four days out from my reconstructive surgery. Something was wrong. The pain was more intense than anything I had ever experienced in my life. No ... Read More

If I don’t write this down, I know I’ll forget it. I don’t want to forget. I want to remember Tuesday for the rest of my life.

Tuesday was the day I went into my son’s kindergarten class for the last time.

Ben’s teacher has given me 30 minutes in the classroom each week for a mini-session I affectionately refer to as ... Read More

Quite a few months ago, I got a little black box in the mail. On the front, in simple letters, it said, “How kind of you.” I hadn’t done anything particularly nice that I could remember, so I couldn’t imagine who would be sending it to me.

Now, perhaps you should know, I am a sucker for things that come in ... Read More

Brian Williams was supposed to be a high-powered, highly paid businessman. In college, he was ranked as the top business student in the country, as in the entire United States. Only, when he got out into the real world, he found he wasn’t crazy about some of the shadier practices happening behind the scenes.

Now, just to be clear, I’m not ... Read More

Imagine waking up Monday morning, ready for the work commute, but instead of sliding into your car, you slid into a pair of sneakers? You would walk out your front door and be greeted by everyone else in the neighborhood because no one was driving. You were all walking the five to 10 miles to work.

Can you imagine the conversations ... Read More

I ordered chicken tenders at the pool last summer for my kids. We are clearly not foodies (or we wouldn’t have ordered chicken tenders in the first place), but this meal was inedible. The poor little freezer-burned then overcooked nuggets barely resembled food.

My kids were disappointed, but happy to eat french fries for lunch, so I let it go. I ... Read More

I have a picture on my office wall that says, “Kindness Matters.” The coffee cup on my desk reminds me to “Be Kind.”

I’m naturally drawn to things that revolve around kindness, whether it’s artwork or the latest academic research. When a radio announcer mentions kindness, my ears perk up. But it hasn’t always been this way.

My friend, Ann, finds pennies in the strangest places. She even found one in the tiny skull skeleton of a squirrel in her yard. Skull skeleton of a squirrel—try saying that 10 times fast.

I’m sure I wrinkled my nose and shrieked, “Gross!” when she told me, but to Ann, it wasn’t gross at all. It was beautiful.

Everything about finding that ... Read More

I think I know how Tiffany felt the first time she heard her song, I Think We’re Alone Now, played on the radio. Go ahead, take a trip back to 1987. I’ll wait…

Okay, onto my story. I was walking through Walmart, browsing the Easter candy aisle when a beautiful woman about my age, stopped me.

“Excuse me, but are ... Read More