I was eager to return home after a week on the West Coast. The early morning ride, the shuffle through security, and the familiar ritual of finding my gate with a book in hand were all part of the journey. Travel is never just about the logistics—it’s about the people we meet along the way. A delay and gate change brought me to Gate N3, where I settled in and took a moment to notice…
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While February is known as the month of love, I think less about romance and more about the love of friends. If anything, it has been the love of my friends that has supported my nearly 40 years of love with my husband, Gary. We live in an age of increasing isolation, losing the deep social capital that once wove our communities together. I count it a privilege in 2025 to live in the same…
4 CommentsDecluttering for the Upgrade When my phone nudges me with a “Software Update Available,” I swipe it away without much thought. Those alerts feel more like a pesky sales pitch than a necessity. Honestly, I don’t want to deal with the interruption—or risk a glitch—by starting an update. But eventually, those persistent notifications, dressed in their clever little red badges, wear me down. I start poking around, checking reviews to see if the upgrade is…
2 CommentsMany aspects of my Navy training were about preparing for the unexpected—fire drills, uniform inspections, and man overboard drills. Each one is designed to help those training in the Navy to respond quickly and efficiently when things go wrong. Just last week, while sitting along the Severn River, the sound of six short blasts on a ship’s whistle pulled me right back to those drills. The Man Overboard call. It all came flooding back—the urgency,…
1 CommentPublic speaking often stirs up a great deal of anxiety. A friend of mine, who frequently trains others in public speaking, had a way of calming nervous speakers before they took the stage. She would reassure them by saying, “Don’t worry, it’s in your bones.” What she meant was that they were sharing something deeply familiar to them, something instinctively known. Sometimes, we need others to remind us of what is already instinctive and so…
Leave a CommentThis past weekend was a whirlwind of joy and celebration. We set off from Maryland early in the morning to attend a wedding in Pennsylvania, a journey of over two hours. Afterward, we eagerly rushed to join the rest of our family back in Maryland, helping our son and daughter-in-law settle into their new home. As we gathered at a nearby mall to share dinner, I overheard one of my sons discussing a plan with…
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