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A Grain of Salt Posts

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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Are We Missing Some Fun?

Let’s go fly a kite! For some of you, the invitation to fly a kite conjures up long ago memories. It may be true that you would need a GRAND reason to fly a kite. I had two GRAND reasons recently to fly a kite when I saw a kite festival announcement on my drive to my nearby gym. I thought, “That sounds like fun.” I had been thinking about and sensing a call to…

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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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Finding Space

During February, I was on sabbatical from the work I do with the Institute for Cultural Communicators. Last year, I dipped my toe into a silent retreat practice with a 24-hour retreat and wanted to do an extended version this year. I traveled to a retreat center in Massachusetts to experience a five-day silent retreat. In my church and ministry circles, the idea of a silent retreat seems little discussed. I remember one dear friend…

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