I got to come home this week again. And today I saw this image float by on my Facebook stream. I’ve always been a big fan of the “Neverending Story”–both in its movie and its original book form (Side note: Michael Ende wrote an amazingly deep, complex, and accessible story I actually got to study … Magical People

I know I should push myself to set some kind of measurable goals again… But it’s another one of those days where the road ahead of us invites that insidious depression that says there’s too much to do and finding our way to the end of this road is an intolerably long prospect. In the … Seeking Peace

The end of the first round of ROW80 came this week, and brought the somewhat depressing realization that I’ve almost wholly missed the goals most important to me. Life decided to play a round of 52-card pick-up with me in January by forcing me out of my comfort zone. I’ve been hugely lucky about the … Doing Best

Yeah, yeah… I skipped a week. I was returning from Wisconsin to Virginia last Sunday, and had neither the inclination nor the enthusiasm to blog about being separated again. Then, Monday night, I got my consumer buzz on: I spent *hours* at the local Toyota dealership making arrangements to add to our collection of Priuses. … Have Wheels, Will Travel

I’m home. There are so many good things about that statement, and it’s too easy to take for granted. Even with Facetime, and seeing my husband’s smile remotely, there’s something in Fitzgerald’s line that makes being here to witness those smiles in person … more worth living. In fact, my husband sent me the link … Life Worth Living

It’s nice to have a series of weeks in a row where I don’t come to the end of the week feeling like I’ve been through the wringer. I don’t know if it’s some kind of situational PTSD or long-term conditioning I need to work through, but I’m still waiting for the other shoe to … Smiles Are Contagious

Funny how settling in to changes can be a lot like … same ol, same ol… 😀 My first week in Virginia was great: My new job has some fascinating elements to it, the people I’ve met there are great, and I discovered in the course of the Wisconsin-like snowstorm that shut down the federal … Winterized

It’s been an amazing couple of weeks. As I mentioned at my last check-in I got to go on vacation with my family last week. It turned out to be the vacation of a lifetime: I can’t rave enough about how amazing a Disney cruise is. I got to swim with dolphins, for crying out … Miracles

It was an exciting week–and the harbinger of great change. Wisconsin failed the three strikes rule for me, with three different companies downsizing and shedding my position in the eight and a half years we’ve lived here. We’re uprooting. The joy of this move is that my new employer seems enthusiastic about the skills I … Go Where You’re Wanted