(Last Friday night was “Open Mic” night at the downtown Opera House here in Boothbay Harbor. I wrote this up to share but the event was cancelled due to an ice storm.Who knows? Perhaps next month I’ll try sharing it again.) It took me nine months and 19,586 miles to get here.   No, I didn’t … Continue reading Open

As this New Year begins, I’m looking back with heart full of gratitude for all the amazing people I got to meet last year. My 8 month road trip of conversations and connections opened my life, deepened my faith and clarified my call to support and empower individuals and communities in times of change and … Continue reading A New Year’s Gift

I pull aside the white linen drapes here by the side of the desk. Outside a few brown leaves scattered on crusty smooth snow. Trails of animal tracks I do not recognize. Golden oval leaves draping from a jagged dark limb. Brown leaves nestle at the base of a small fir. On the desk here … Continue reading Christmas Eve

It’s such a gift to look back at this most amazing year. 18,000 miles on a road trip that began seven months ago - so many connections, conversations, new friends, new places and time to be with family and friends like I’ve never had before. This year changed me. I’ve been following the Spirit’s call … Continue reading Tacking to Joy

I have not looked at “Boys’s Life” magazine since I was a Cub Scout many decades ago. But waiting at the dentist’s office, I glanced at the rack of magazines by the couch and saw the cover article on the current issue of “Boy’s Life”, “How to Be Prepared for a Last Minute Change in … Continue reading Change of Plans

“The rejection and disappointment are critical training modules for you…Embrace it. Take detailed notes on the cycles of emotion, the kinds of stories you tell yourself, how you are reacting to others ‘kind words’, openness (or not) to other ideas and connections, how you are diminishing yourself, etc. Bottom line: get curious!” And so in … Continue reading This

The last two months since I have written have been wrapped up in a lot of fuss and fury. Learning about a job…writing the application…submitting the application…waiting to hear….a phone interview….waiting to hear….an invitation for an in-person interview….a marathon interview….waiting to hear….waiting to hear….and not wanting to hear that alas, the job did not come … Continue reading Not This

The Wisconsin River Sometimes saying YES makes all the difference. Last week I had a chance to say thank you one more time for a conversation and an invitation that led to my summer-turning-to-fall-trip-of-discovery. It was back in February when one drizzly Seattle afternoon I called Aram to introduce myself and talk with him about … Continue reading The River

Early Wednesday morning, Winthrop, Maine It’s the first time on my fall adventure that I’ve had to scrape off an icy windshield. It was almost as cold last night as the familiar icy panic that gripped me in the middle of the night – 2:21 a.m. to be exact – when I reached over and … Continue reading First Frost

Last week I took my cousin and his wife to see Stephen Jenkinson’s “performance” here in Portland, Maine called “Nights of Grief and Mystery.” I warned them that it would be a really out-of-the box kind of experience and that they might not like it at all. However, I also know that there is something … Continue reading Orphan Wisdom