When I was helping plan a 30-year college sorority reunion a few years back, one of my “sisters” declined the invitation saying that she had gained 30 pounds since college and didn’t feel good about herself. She was ashamed of her body, she said. Thirty pounds in thirty years. I assured her that we had […]
When I was growing up, the Miss America Pageant was a big TV night. While my mother pin-curled my hair for church the next day, the whole family watched the pageant. It was our chance to see the faraway (at least from South Alabama) glamorous Atlantic City and 50 of the country’s most beautiful girls. […]
“Social media may be fueling plastic surgery trends, docs warn.” This was a headline on my news feed this morning. The article says, “…in 2017, 42 percent of plastic surgeons from the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS) reported patients sought cosmetic procedures to look better in selfies, Instagram, and Snapchat.”[i] I was outraged […]
“Because I’m worth it.” That’s a slogan that was launched in the 1970’s by the cosmetic line L’Oreal of Paris. The “revolutionary” idea was that women do indeed have intrinsic value; therefore, pampering themselves with beauty products is a sign that they have discovered and deserve the right to flaunt that worth. The TV ad was born […]
I believe that every person is born with two price tags. One, placed by its Creator, is indelible as if tattooed on its soul. It says, “priceless,” “immeasurable,” “precious.” This price tag cannot be removed or altered. It is permanent. The other tag can fluctuate wildly—especially in women. Most of the time, this variable can […]
For my faithful readers, let me say “thank you” for following my blog over the past 5+ years. Chasing Bimini was my theme and the point of the over 100 entries was catharsis–meaning they were just so I could vent—an attempt to get something off my chest. So many of you were kind in responding with encouragement […]
What do you say when you feel you have nothing to say? That’s the question I’ve asked myself for the last several months, and why I haven’t posted anything on this blog for so long. Forgive me. It’s not that my life has been uneventful. A lot has happened. Within the last few months all […]
Mountaintop. Most of the time we use this term to describe highpoints of life—the pinnacles of emotion, the successes in life. It is often accompanied by feelings of euphoria. So then the valley often describes loneliness, despair—the pits! But I see those terms differently now. For three years, we literally lived on a mountaintop–Leadpole Mountain. […]
We couldn’t have found a better light show if we had been in New York City, on the mall in Washington D.C. or on Main Street at DisneyWorld. On July 4th, we were with our sons and their families in a suburban Nashville subdivision. Just after dark we began feeling the percussive presence of fireworks, […]
I teach a class in Creative Writing: Nonfiction at the college. This is the first time it’s ever been taught at the school; it’s the first time I’ve ever taught it, although I did take the class as a part of my master’s degree. The class is small—only three students—all seniors and all male. Among […]