Category: Your Stories

  • Nailing your job

    For the last year and a half, I’ve lived in a wonderful retirement community, but I don’t drive anymore. Because I can be a little unsteady on my feet, I’ve been hesitant to use the free van service that takes residents off-site to run errands. I didn’t know how I would do on the stairs…

  • Birthday vibes

    As I waited my turn, I noticed the restroom attendant wore a colorful pin that said “It’s my birthday!” She blushed when I mentioned it, saying a co-worker gave it to her and made her wear it. She continued to clean up and direct people to the next open stall. Nearly every person who passed…

  • Paying it forward with food

    The hotel kitchen was way behind delivering breakfast orders. We had a long group hike starting soon and wondered if we’d get to eat beforehand. So we grabbed some granola bars and fruit to go from the side table as we filled our water bottles. Just as we got up to leave, the waiter brought…

  • It takes a village

    With help from generous friends, my husband and I hosted a rehearsal dinner and welcome reception last weekend for guests coming to our son’s wedding. Knowing the crowd would be large but not wanting to spend a fortune on something I’d use only once, I shopped at Goodwill ahead of time for big drink dispensers…

  • Get Them Paid, Congress

    ATL – the busiest airport in the world – is leading the headlines this week for all the wrong reasons. With Congress failing to pass a budget, TSA agents haven’t been paid for a month now, so many of them (understandably) aren’t showing up for work. At times, TSA security lines at ATL weave through…

  • Superhero dad

    The past couple of weeks have been so busy that every little task feels overwhelming. I’ve been sleep deprived because of work, so the prospect of moving from our apartment into a new house was very daunting.  My dad absolutely saved the day. He pretty much independently packed up our apartment (with us helping where…

  • Heads Up

    As we snaked through the long TSA line in a busy airport last week, a family of four – a middle-aged mom with her three 20-something daughters – kept stopping traffic. It didn’t matter since the line was long and they caught up quickly, but it was odd. Until I realized why. Instead of groaning…

  • Getting to the other side

    I’m a habitual pedestrian in a big city with sometimes aggressive drivers, so crossing the street safely is a daily challenge. Today, while crossing a major road, a man in a car turning right very kindly gave me the right-of-way. I even stepped off the curb far across the street from him, and he elected…

  • Flower Connection

    I was walking a trail today and came across a young woman stooped over a plant. When she saw me, she broke out into a beaming (bashful) smile and said, “they smell good!” I smiled back to let her know that I could relate, and you’d better believe that when I passed the plant on…

  • Paper and pen

    On a bucket list trip to Israel, I unexpectedly found myself at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City. At the holy site, many visitors write down prayers on slips of paper to insert in the cracks between the wall’s stones. We hadn’t planned to stop at the wall, though, so I had no paper…