Safe, Not Stuck: Embracing Lack of Change

As I ponder the start to the new year, at first, I feel sorry for myself. I make the foolish, painful mistake of comparing myself to others and focusing on what’s missing in my life instead of all the good things I have. It can be all too easy to go down this path.    […]

Hope vs. False Expectations

What’s the difference between hope and false expectations? How do we know when to hope for the best and when we’re deluding ourselves? In each case, we’re throwing ourselves open to faith, to things we can’t control or predict. Is there such a thing as healthy and unhealthy hope, and if so, where’s the line?   On the one […]

Fé, No Miedo

Faith Not Fear

¿Alguna vez has conocido un ángel en persona en un lugar cotidiano que te dice algo tan profundo en el momento justo cuando más necesitas escucharlo? Ayer, el dependiente del servicio postal cerca de mi casa fue ese ángel. “Cruza tus dedos por mí, Roy” Le dije, pasándole mi libro en un sobre dirigido a […]

A Bug Story

Emma. That’s what I decided to name the unusually large mosquito eater that was zooming around my house. Those bugs are creepy looking, like spindly daddy long legs with wings, but anything that eats the annoying, disease-carrying stingers that constantly welt my sweet skin is a friend of mine. I turned around from my computer […]

Waiting for Godot

In my graduate school library, there’s a really old, unreliable elevator. It’s so slow that it often takes a full ten minutes to get from the third floor to the first. Sometimes, it doesn’t come at all. As a joke, we nicknamed it “Godot,” referring to a Samuel Beckett play about two men waiting endlessly. […]

The Wisdom of Willy Wonka

“I want an Oompa Loompa, and I want it NOW!” screams little Veruca Salt to her father in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. While I dislike her spoiled brat character, I can certainly relate to her impatience and desire to get what she wants right now. Have you ever been in a “holding pattern” in your […]