Do you have an “If” of your own? Or answers to any of these? What if: a librarian had ADHD-would books be kept alphabetically or skip around the alphabet? happiness had staying power a dog wore slippery shoes – what would happen to their confidence?…
Author: Karen Burns
Where We Left Our Childhood
Feet barely skimming the water, sitting on the end of the Miller’s dock on Lake Pillsbury, sunburned and exhausted from a day spent water skiing with my best friends, Lisa and Nellie. My brother, Matt, has just dropped off a contraband six pack of beer. We’re 13, it’s the end of the summer before we…
Shut the Front Door
I think I’m the one that broke the rules. But only in the daylight. I didn’t always look to see who was there. I rarely locked it. I left it wide open if something exiting came in. Or went out. In my original families home, the best things came in through our front door; mail,…
#3 Clutch or Brake? Life With Dad
I was 12 when it was time to learn how to ride a motorcycle. My father collected used cars, boats, motorcycles, people, accidents. Buying anything new was a foreign concept to my parents. They both loved to refinish antiques. Obsessive almost. I’ve always wondered what, exactly, they were trying to rescue, or buff out, or…
Story #2 – Mom
My mother made things: clothes, vegetables, furniture, houses, enemies. As a product of the depression, she was frugal to a fault. As absolutely annoying as this was, sometimes it was comedy gold. I grew up in the 1960s, a decade which, in and of itself, is fairly amusing. I was both awed and baffled by…
Story # 1: Men, Dogs, and Giving Up
I was five when my father threw me out of our boat into Lake Mendocino. It was time to learn how to water ski. Bobbing behind the boat with my lifejacket hovering over my head, my left arm got tangled in the tow-rope. I yelled “Hit it” hoping the rope would sort itself out. I…
War’n Out
Because poetry seemed a worthy activity during our time of inactivity.* Protest signs Empty water bottles Beer cans Cigarette butts Gum wrappers spent bullets Crumpled signs smoking shells spattered blood…
Empathy Moves Mountains
This is just a reminder that your empathy will always be more important, more impactful, and more life changing to this world than your opinion ever will be. Empathy removes confining walls and allows space for healing and understanding. Empathy moves mountains. – Kate Held In My Opinion, now, more than ever (or so it seems)…
Just Because
My last blog post, Life We’re in It Together was a story about a friend and neighbor, Helen, who is beyond thoughtful and empathetic, she’s ‘empathoughtfulmaster.’ That word is soon to be an actual concept. Helen just senses the human experience of others and sneakily follows through on her phenomenal ideas. Jennie Lee, one of my favorite…