When you flip back through the many pages of the journals I’ve kept over the years, from time to time you will find a page or two left blank. These pages represent a pause, a breath. Preceded by a significant ending, and (often in hindsight), followed by the start of something new. You’ll find these…
Tag: marysthoughtsandthings
May Reading List
May was a busy reading month. Here’s what I read: Several of my favorite authors have quoted passages from this book. This book helped me create a plan for the memoir I’ve dreamed of writing for years. One of my favorite quotes: “If there is one door in the castle you’ve been told not to…
Black Lives Matter
“It is a privilege to learn about racism instead of experiencing it your whole life” (Ahmed Ali). In eighth grade, my beloved honors English teacher, Ms. Jimenez (or, “OJ“ as she let us call her, an acronym for her first and last name) taught me one of the most important lessons I ever learned. We…
March & April Book List
Blogging has been on the back burner as I’ve been focusing my writing energy on my memoir! I’m 20,000 words in and it may just be (in Anne LaMott’s words) a shitty first draft, but the point is that the words are there, and they are mine, and it feels terrifying and challenging and so…
Mothering.
My daughter had a bit of a breakdown last evening. She misses school and she misses her friends and she is afraid that things won’t ever return to normal. Many of her friends are going through hard times at home, and she is brimming with worry and fear and feelings. She tries to be stoic…
February Book List
Covid-19 is on the top of everyone’s minds. Travel bans have begun, employers are asking workers to log in remotely, and schools are closed. My middle school aged daughter was so disappointed today to find out her band tour to Disneyland is being cancelled, but her spirits lifted later in the day when she learned…
May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.
It’s a perfect Spring Sunday in Arizona- the breeze prancing through my open window, making my bedroom curtains dance. It’s a slow, steady afternoon and I vacillated between getting outdoors into the sunshine and curling up in bed with a cup of tea, my book and my writing (obviously the latter has won). There will…
Marathon Dreamin’
Running a marathon has been a goal of mine since high school. As a cheerleader, I can recall standing next to my squad while cheering on the runners of the first P.F. Chang’s Rock & Roll marathon here in Phoenix and admiring their strength and grit. Later in my twenties I bought the book, ‘The…
A Blessing
“Let calm be this house The quiet of the Master’s breath Rule over and bless this house. May the wind blow the chaff Far past this house, And the wheat of peace, fullness Plenty and beauty walk The floors of this house, And may the Graces of the angels And the ripe and the good…
Mary's Thoughts & Things 