Musings

By Myrna Conrad Covid 19 has changed so much of our world and how it functions. But, one of the most devastating changes has been how it has so drastically impacted human-to-human interaction. It seems that face-to-face interaction, close connection and contact had already started to diminish even before Covid. So,...

By Sean Dietrich My wife and I are going out to dinner tonight. I am waiting for her to get ready. She is in the bathroom, standing before a mirror, pinching her tummy. She asks if I think she is fat. “No,” I say. She frowns. “You sure?” “Yes.” “Well, I feel fat.” She...

By Myrna Conrad Since this is the month of Easter, I want to reflect on and talk about grace. I know there are various definitions of grace. Among them are: “simple elegance or refinement of movement;” “an attractively polite manner of behaving;” and “a period officially allowed for payment of...

By Rick Moore This is the story as it was told to me. In 1899, Malaky, her brothers David and Naif, along with their mom and dad, boarded a steamship heading from Byblos, Lebanon to New York City. Malaky was eleven, David was four, and Naif was one year old....

By Sean Dietrich “Will the room please settle down before the dance begins?!” says Gary to the elderly crowd in the nursing home cafeteria. “Simmer down, please!” Gary is an old man with a saxophone dangling from his neck. He speaks over a microphone, addressing old folks who are all wearing...

By Myrna Conrad Repentance seems to be a long-forgotten word in our society today. In fact, no one likes to read about or talk about repentance. Therefore, I am very excited that you are reading this article. Repentance is seen as a very negative word, when in fact it is...

By Sean Dietrich Major League Baseball spring training started today. I sat on my porch, listening to a radio. And I was cheering. I mean genuinely cheering. The Atlanta Braves play the Tampa Bay Rays. The national anthem was played. The umpire used his time-ravaged voice to shout, “Play ball!” I...

By Rick Moore My wife says she saw it in a dream. We had only been married a few months. It was the first, and one of the few times she has ever shared one of her dreams with me. She was in a pet shop the day before looking...

By Rick Moore I have two older brothers. All three of us are less than a year and a half apart. My little sister is eleven years younger than me. During our elementary school days, many mornings my brothers and I would fight (yes, literally) over who had to eat...

By Sean Dietrich We were newlyweds, living in a grungy apartment. Each morning, I would wake before her. I would pass my morning hours writing poetry on a yellow legal pad, sipping coffee. Mostly, I’d write the kinds of god-awful things you’d expect newlyweds to write. I’m talking painfully corny stuff. I’d...