Magical Memoir Moments

A Good Day is a Gutsy Day: How You Can Win a Free Book or Download a Bargain

It’s a good day today. In no spectacular way. It’s good just by waking up, alive, in a “warm” house (I’m grateful for the afghan made by my mother-in-law and a prayer shawl give to me by Mennonite women this fall). Then there was coffee, and breakfast with Stuart, who made the steel-cut oats. Lots…

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Recovering Joy in A Good Day: The Woman in the Photograph

What if the only clue you had to your mother’s past was a photo taken before you were born — when she was young, carefree, and beautiful? What if it looked like this:How would you feel, upon waking up in the morning, if the day stretched out before you had no clear architecture from the…

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Always Returning: Prairie Wisdom for Breathing in a Good Day Every Day

So what if the day you are having doesn’t seem like A Good Day? No day can be Good all the time! I’ve learned much Prairie Wisdom from my friend Daisy Hickman, author of Always Returning: The Wisdom of Place. I have her book on my table TBR (to be read) soon! I hope you’ll…

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Every Day Is All There Is: Defining a Good Day

Have you ever found yourself thinking about a subject and then discovered that lots of other people are doing the same? For me that topic is: what is a good day? Joan Didion’s words “Every day is all there is” came into my life via my daughter Kate’s business partner, Emily Levenson. She’s the one…

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A Good Day–Even When Not All of It Is Good

Dr. Joel Elkes, whose 95th birthday was celebrated in a previous post, believes that a good life is built one good day at a time.  As a pioneer in the field of psychopharmacology, he might be expected to focus on drugs that help us cope with life’s challenges.  However, he is much more interested in…

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The Quiet, Productive, Connected Very Good Day: Tina Fariss Barbour's Wise Words

Last week I broke one of the basic rules of good writing. I got a little carried away with adjectives, writing about the Amazing, Excellent, Superb, Splendid Very Good Day. I’ll blame my infatuation with my grandchildren. But sometimes breaking the rules leads to new opportunities, as it did today. One of my readers has…

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Owen and Julia and the Amazing, Excellent, Superb, Splendid, Very Good Day

I’ve been on a quest lately to deepen my understanding of what it’s like to have a good day. We all know about Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day but what about the Amazing, Excellent, Superb, Splendid, Very Good Day? So I went to two experts: grandson Owen, age 3, and…

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Eggs Benedict at The Bishop's Hall

In Praise of Breakfast: Starting Three Good Days at The Bishop’s Hall

What’s your favorite meal? In the morning, at least, mine is breakfast. 🙂 And my last three breakfasts have started a good day with a bang. Here’s the table setting: Along with my two “Pilgrim Sister” friends, I enjoyed the hospitality at The Bishop’s Hall at our annual meeting, this time in Oak Park, Illinois….

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Good-Bye Phoenix: Signing Out For a Few Days

As another Mennonite Convention ends, I am saying goodnight to the excitement of five days spent in worship, meetings, reunions, and conversation. In times past I have attended the convention as a representative of Goshen College. This time I just moved around the halls as the spirit led me, meeting relatives, former students and colleagues, …

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What’s Good About Aging?

I turned 75 years old on July 30.  This is the first birthday that seems undeniably like the beginning of old age — three quarters of the way to 100. Six years away from the average American female life expectancy of 81. No matter my fate, I am beginning to see the horizon and the…

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