Although I was born and raised in the US, I have lived in the UK for the past 20 – 25 years or so. Over the years, I have welcomed a number of family members for visits and lead a number of expeditions into London. This particular day, my mother and I went along South […]
Category Archives: Loving Kindness
I shave it!!
I first met Julie when I climbed through the window at the old-fashioned firm in the village. The office is next door to the church on Church Street and was erected in the Tudor period. The large oak staircases on the ground floor hid the usual nooks and crannies that can be found in a […]
Life Lessons
If I’m right in thinking that, after we die, we meet (again) with more learned souls. We go through what happened, what didn’t happen and what we learned in the previous lifetime. At that point we can rest for a little while or we can immediately come back. I don’t think we necessarily always come […]
Loving Fiercely
When I started at the U of I, Louise was about 6 and I took her to my dorm’s Haunted House. It was something which students put on every year for the local children. At first, it was kids’ stuff: being handed grapes and told they were eyeballs… But then one room we went into […]
Mother
When I commented to my husband recently that both my mother and sister were crazy, he said “You’re from the same stock, you know.” So after I reminded him that he married me so he must be completely insane, I got to thinking. What exactly are Mom’s personality traits that I want to let go? For starters, Mom is […]
Loving my Step Children into my Life
When I first got together with Troy he told me about his children from a previous marriage. Of course, I nearly bolted when we had the conversation: I felt as if someone had clamped concrete shoes on my feet and thrown me into a lake! Troy, calmly, kept talking. I don’t know if he realised […]
Troy – Friends, and more?
During the last three or so years of marriage with Brian, I was friends with Troy. He worked in the Newbury office while I worked in the Godalming office. We only talked on the phone, and getting to know him was a slow process but I was attracted to him. While on the phone with […]
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion/philosophy of lists. Historically, the lists start with the enlightenment of the Buddha (aka someone who is enlightened and does not have to reincarnate again). Buddha is not a god. Buddha is someone who, over hundreds of lifetimes, achieved enlightenment. Buddha said that there are four noble truths: 1) Life is ultimately […]
Death and Belief
This story starts in 1991, on my 20th birthday: I was due to visit my boyfriend’s parents that week but Mom wanted me to stay with her: if Frank (Louise’s dad) died in the middle of the night she didn’t want Louise, aged 7, to wake up and find herself alone in the house. The […]
Brazilian Summer, Illinois Winter
Andrea and I were in school together – aged 14-ish. In the hallway one day I saw some older kids picking on a girl saying “Go home! We don’t want you here.” I remember marching up and putting myself in between her and her tormentors. I said “How many languages do you speak?!” When I […]
