February 2, 2022 – From AZ February 2 is one of those days people think is special. Why? GroundHog Day for one, a Germanic custom that wandered into America. Among Catholics it is the feast of Candlemas, which was layered on top of the Roman Lupercalia. Many holidays are like that, stacking up on old…
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January 26, 2021 – From AZ It finally happened. I got overwhelmed. Throughout all the drama and turmoil of the last two years, my equanimity was pretty solid. There were tough days, of course, but I never felt ‘underwater.’ That was then. This is now. Managing all the pieces became officially too much this…
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January 19, 2022 From Michigan Mostly, I try to be meaningful and spiritual in this weekly column, but today I need to be practical. This is not my strength so bear with me. There have been challenges with our ‘hybrid’ Sunday services, something I mentioned in my Facebook video a week or two back.…
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Wendy started basic training last week. She had her first of 16 infusions over 20 weeks, which will be followed by 3 weeks of radiation. Tough regimen, and because the chemo makes your hair fall out I gave her a buzz cut today to make that transition less dramatic. Of course, getting a buzz cut is…
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1-5-2022 I must have mentioned Frost’s poem, “Mending Wall.” If not, the most famous line is one we all recognize: “Good fences make good neighbors.” It means that boundaries are helpful in human relations. But they are hard. Absent an actual wall, it is difficult to know where they are until you step over…
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12-28-21 You know the joke: “I just flew back from LA and boy are my arms tired.” Well, I just drove back from LA, and boy is my….tired. No kidding, drove 400 miles and came right to the office and started this column, and if there was a way to write it standing up I…
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12-21-21 Yes, today is the winter solstice, although to be fair it is also the summer solstice. As with so many things, where you are defines what is going on. Here in Phoenix, north of the equator, the sun rose at 730 am and will go down at 530 pm. In Cape Town, which I…
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‘Tis the season of giving, right? And if you think I am about to make a pitch for your 2022 VUU pledge you are wrong. Yes, do make your commitment, but this is a generous congregation in many ways. I know all of you will support VUU well. But speaking of generosity and giving,…
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It is the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day as I write this, with much attention paid to the fewer and fewer people still alive who remember it. No one, though, seems to have noticed that eighty years before Pearl Harbor was the outbreak of the Civil War. Let that sink in. Not so long…
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Thanksgiving is here. I am with my family in Michigan which warms my heart if not my feet as it is now below freezing much of the time. As we did last year, our plan was to return as a couple and be with you through the winter, which we truly enjoyed last…
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