Ten months ago, I started to allow streaming videos to kick my hefty mom butt almost every morning. Today, I am two days from completing 80 Day Obsession. Don’t worry. I’m not blowing off the last two days. I’ll get to 80. I’m going to finish. But I think I’m ready to talk about this […]
Category: Confessions of.a Do-Gooder
I Love Holy Terror(s)
At church, I always want to sit behind young families with rambunctious kids. I love it when children cry, whine, pull hair, shriek, and throw toys, books and Cheerios in church. I hate to play the “been-there-done-that-ha-ha-my-kids-are-grown” card, but I can’t help it. I used to dread going to church with my kids, mostly because […]
Good Lord, Another Trip to the ER
I made the mistake of recently telling a friend that my long-term health care plan was to stay healthy because I didn’t like going to the doctor. Since I uttered those perilous, knock-on-wood words, I’ve been to the emergency room twice. Three weeks ago, I landed in the ER after I tripped while running at […]
Tripping on the Trail and a Trip to the ER
“Have you ever had stitches before?” Pat asked me this morning as I sat in the ER waiting for Mike, the friendly Physician’s Assistant, to come back with needles, sutures, gauze, scissors and whatever else he was going to need to address the large, gaping laceration on my left thigh. I had to think about […]
Thank Goodness My Dog Doesn’t Bear a Grudge
While backpacking on the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail a few weeks ago, Sparky, our faithful companion who joins us on all our hiking, backpacking and running adventures, met a German Shepherd on the trail. This dog was huge, probably outweighing Sparky by 50 pounds, and I only hesitantly say the dog was leashed because, technically, […]
Backpacking the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail (LHHT) – Route 31 to Route 30
The most significant thing that has changed since we hiked the first 31 miles on the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail in May is that for the first time in 25 years, a man in Pennsylvania died after being bitten by a rattlesnake. Okay, he wasn’t hiking the LHHT, but this news still disturbed me because […]
If I Sit Next To You, Watch Out If I’m Eating a Tomato
I know I’m not the kind of person who should sit next to strangers. “Can I join you?” I recently asked a woman who was sitting by herself in a row of seats as she waited for an event to start. “Sure,” she said. Not a fair question. How else could she respond? With four […]
Jag-U-Ar? Car, Cat and Confusion
In a current TV commercial for a luxury car brand, I noticed the announcer pronounced the vehicle Jag-U-Ar, instead of Ja-Guar, which is the way I have pronounced it my whole life. I’m certain the reason I never noticed this before is because I am way too gauche to be in the market for a […]
The Unbearable Lightness of Winning
I’ve never been the winning-type. People with fiercely competitive natures win awards for footraces, chess matches and science fair projects, because winners strive for perfection and can drum up the singular determination and laser-like focus it takes to succeed. Winners always expect to win. That’s my problem. I never expect to win. I’m just not […]
Backpacking the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail (LHHT) – Ohiopyle to Route 31
Someone needs to tell us where to park on Route 31. Seriously, we couldn’t find the LHHT Trailhead Parking Lot to drop off our “finish car.” But that’s because our pre-hike parking preparation went like this: Me: Pat, the trailhead overnight parking lot is on Route 31. Do you know where that is? Pat: […]