Canoeing with friends is a relational sport. You drift along, enjoying the scenery and conversing at length with no pressure to beat the traffic or make your next meeting.   We spent two summer vacations canoeing the Colorado River through Canyonlands National Park. There were entire days of gazing up at the soaring orange canyon […]

What a mixed bag. They’re often chosen, welcomed, and invigorating, but not always. They can represent the end of a season or the acceptance of a new reality. Some transitions are planned; others are imposed. Since we’re always transitioning from one thing to another, it’s helpful to consider not just the inevitability of change, but […]

When I was nine, my father built a giant sieve to separate stones from the soil. He wanted a lawn back where the yard was still piles of rubble from a construction project. At dinner that night he asked me to help him shovel one of the piles through the sieve. At nine, my idea […]

Imagine arriving home at day’s end to find greasy black liquid spreading across the counter, running down the cabinets onto the floor, and soaking into the hallway carpet. A backed-up kitchen sink on the middle floor of a forty-storied apartment building is neither peaceful nor relaxing.  A quick call brought two men running down the […]