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Our Tennessee Vacation
“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.” John Muir As a young teen growing up in Pennsylvania I would take long walks through the woods near our house. There was something about being among the trees, listening to the birds and watching the sunlight cascade down through the leaves. I always felt at peace. Those days of being in nature were calling to me. I needed to leave the familiar palm trees behind in search of maple, birch, and hickory. I’m not one who enjoys tent camping. Cabins with a jacuzzi are more my idea of roughing it. It had been over ten years since we…
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Traveling On My Own
Traveling On My Own In the beginning, the music played, I sang, the sun was shining and the excitement of breaking free of routine and visiting my daughter at college filled me with joy. I was on an adventure! I thought my journey would be relatively worry free and similar to an earlier visit to Champaign where my days were spent writing while Arielle was in class and my evenings were spent chatting with Arielle and catching up on movies. Oh, this trip was different! Very,very different! I’ve never been nervous to travel alone. It feels familiar. As early as first and second grade I remember riding my bike on daily explorations of the…
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Orlando Family Vacation
Now that my kids are teenagers I occasionally glimpse back to the past and ask myself what I did as a parent that I’m thankful for. I made a list…. here. Number 2. on the list is family vacations. We began when the kids were little taking short trips to Disney World and then as they got older we explored different states and then different countries. Each trip was an adventure. Each trip was a lesson in exploring and finding the joy in life. It was also a constant reminder for me of what was important. Not having a spotless house or working fifty plus hours a week. Seeing the smiles…
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The Glee Project Audition
If you can listen to music and read at the same time I recommend listening to River, by the cast of Glee, as you read this. It’s beautiful and fitting for this post. This is the story of how an idea, a hope, a what if?, led to a dream coming true. It began many months ago with several conversations between my daughter, Arielle, and me about a TV show she discovered called The Glee Project. I watched how her eyes lit up every time she gave me an update on the latest episode. I heard passion in her voice and knew instinctively what she was thinking. One day, I asked the…
