Hope Blog

I see it everywhere lately. Whether on a digital reader or with a good old fashioned paperback, summer reading is in full bloom. But I learned from a good friend once that not all reading occurs on the pages of…

Recently I heard a good description of both sympathy and empathy. Sympathy is when you see someone in a hole, look down, and say, “Wow, it must be tough down there in that hole!” Empathy is when you see someone…

I used to think that in life you get what you deserve. There is a sense of justice and even pride in that. If I work hard and do good, good things will naturally follow. If life is fair, as…

“Don’t forget to say that I’m with you,” I said to my co-worker a few minutes before we boarded the plane recently.   I’d learned the magic of these words from a friend a few years before. By telling the…

“That’s the one,” she said, “that one right there!” Jessica smiled brightly and pointed at the small black and white puppy in the playpen. We all turned our heads and saw her for the very first time. Casey Lou, as…

I wrote a story a few years ago about a used baby crib my mother purchased for my son at a garage sale shortly after he was born. As we were setting up the crib, I noticed something unusual about…

“When I first saw him come around the corner toward our house, I thought he looked just like Moses coming out of the wilderness,” she told me. At that point in his life, he looked more like a homeless person…

Mom has Parkinson’s disease. So, when she reaches her hand across her chest to rest it on my forehead, it is stiff and shaking. But what does it matter? Her caress comes from some instinct deep inside. It’s Tuesday and…