For the past two summers I’ve maintained two hummingbird feeders in the flowerbed next to our deck. I would dutifully boil the sugar water and keep a jug in the fridge ready to refill them when they were empty. I would try to keep water in the wells on the top in attempt to keep… Continue reading It’s Not My Job
Lately I’ve found myself doing a lot of “unfollowing” on Facebook. Maybe I just feel overwhelmed with social media right now. Maybe I just don’t need to know everywhere you go or what you had for dinner. Maybe I’m starting to feel more and more like a voyeur and I just don’t like it. I’m… Continue reading Unfollow
Ever since college, I’ve tried to give blood regularly, although it doesn’t always happen regularly – I’ve gone years without donating. Something will trigger me and then I’ll find myself back in the habit. Even though I hate needles, I know the importance of giving blood and I don’t usually mind taking the time out… Continue reading Drained
From the beginning of my time at North, I’ve been blessed with a good amount of PTO (paid time off). However, I noticed that as the years went on, my pile of hours kept adding up. I wasn’t very good about using my PTO. Clearly it was given to me for a reason, but I… Continue reading PTO
When I met with my therapist yesterday we talked a little bit about my dreams. After sharing a few with her, I realized that perhaps my dream life was a bit unusual, maybe more active than most? I don’t know. You tell me… I remember a lot of my dreams – many times because they… Continue reading Dreams
I’m going through my documents clearing away old ones that I haven’t looked at in years (I still had weekly youth group schedules from 2001!). In the process I’ve come across some interesting documents. One was of several pages of poems written by youth on a retreat many years ago – they were in high… Continue reading Fences
I'm a rule follower. It makes me uneasy to break rules. Even if it's not a "rule" - if it's strongly suggested, I follow that too. So, when Brad got me a FitBit a few years ago at Christmas, I knew what I had to do. 10,000 steps a day. I wanted to feel the… Continue reading Break
My sabbatical forced me to create some very definite boundaries between work and personal life. Because I wanted full separation between the people I work with and myself to have the most meaningful sabbatical possible, I had to put some things in place. It was mostly around social media. Everyone from the church got put… Continue reading Boundaries