The Pits and Pieces

  I went for one of my frequent walks the other day (not daily, but frequent nonetheless) and decided to not put in my earphones to listen to audio books or podcasts, but instead, just let my mind wander. I used to do this all the time (allow mind wandering while walking) during the early years of COVID (are we talking years now and not months). But in the past year or so, I got into the habit of listening to podcasts while I walked, and then I found audio books. And the rest, as they say, is history. But the other day, I walked like a freak – with nothing plugged into my ears! Imagine. And wow, I realized I missed listening to my own thoughts. I listen to my thoughts all the time, while doing chores etc. But internal thoughts take a different shape when you’re out walking, especially in nature. I don’t know why that is, but it is. I remember walking the Portuguese Camino with nothing except my thoughts for company. That was in 2015, and while I had a smart phone (although no roa...

  September always seems like the true beginning of a new year. I was thinking the other morning about those first days of school, taking a picture of my daughter on her first day of kindergarten, all those mommy butterflies in my tummy. We want so much to protect our children from the world and yet the quandary is, we have to prepare to let go of them, to send them out into that same world where there are no guarantees, no knowledge of what they might encounter. Some of it is just pure luck and happenstance. Then comes the day we send them off to university and there’s another letting go. And again, we don’t know what they might go through, but if they’re lucky, and we’re lucky, they will be okay. So much of being a parent is putting your trust not only in your child, in yourself, but also in others to do the right thing. We count on the integrity of others.   Someone tossed this board to the curb. I’d like to think that, rather than the reason for discarding it being u...