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Category: Communication

Making Adjustments

Back in high school, I spent many hours enjoying handwork. I loved sewing and cross-stitching. Much of my needlework was of bible verses, proverbs, and maxims. I found this one cross-stitch design that had this hilarious saying. I made it and gave it to my mom. It was a joke and an antithesis to her way of moving in the world. My sweet mother hung that framed piece over the doorway in the kitchen. Whenever…

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Who is my neighbor?

When I was five years old, I moved into my Ferry Farms’ neighborhood. I have lived here as an owner longer than I lived as a child. Indeed, the changes hit me as I reflect on the almost 40 years (separated by 20 years) of living in my neighborhood. Today more people walk their dogs than people walk children around the block. Today every sale of a house brings a wholesale teardown followed by a…

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Where everybody knows your username

We live near one of the top-ranked community colleges in the United States, Anne Arundel Community College. All of our nine students have attended AACC either as dual enrollment students during their high school years or as students obtaining their associate’s degree before transferring to another school. It was my turn in my retired educator status to enroll in some noncredit courses I was considering as part of upping the fun factor in my life.…

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Seeing as a Seven Year Old

When we lived in Hawaii, I wanted to connect better with each of my children. We lived in military housing in a beautiful pre-WWII neighborhood full of blooming plumeria, hibiscus, and towering royal palms. I would take them one at a time for a walk around the block. As a young parent, I tried too hard to squeeze something meaningful into the time, and often my questions weren’t born from curiosity but trying to drive…

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35 years of Graces

When I was young, I didn’t give much thought to marriage. I set my eyes on school and the Navy. While stationed in Rhode Island, I found a friend willing to risk deeper conversations with me. I recall one conversation with my friend, Tina, that served as a guiding, grace-filled word to my unfolding future. She asked me what I wanted in a husband. I thought about it and quickly answered. At the time, I…

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Food for thought

What inspires you? Recently, I traveled with two friends to Williamsburg, Virginia. We traveled there to spend three days together imagining and planning for the future of the nonprofit leadership work we crazily love. One of the restaurants we lunched in was named Food for Thought. We found the perfect place for women who share a combined 60+ years of training adults and students to communicate their ideas. The décor featured pictures of inventors, scientists,…

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