Accidental Angel

When I was in school, I participated in an undergraduate internship with a hospital chaplain. This largely consisted of me visiting with specific hospital patients and then discussing the interaction with the chaplain. I had no specific training in this, and...

Impossible Is Nothing Stories

Take a certain goal of yours and double it. Or triple it. Or multiply it by 10. And then ask yourself, quite seriously, what you would have to do to achieve that new goal. I used this game recently with a friend who holds a position in sales. He came to see me because...

First In Flight

The little Cessna had just cleared the pattern in its climb to 1,500 feet when my father said, “OK, we can land now.” With my newly minted private pilot’s license in hand, I had wanted him to be my first non-instructor passenger. I’d planned to circle the Michigan...

Buckets of Pennies

“Bette, how can I go on?” I said, pleading for an easy answer. “Sallie, you just keep putting one foot in front of the other every day. It is not a destination but a journey,” she counseled me. My mind drifted back to that ugly day when this journey had begun....

The Voice

Coloradoans are so accustomed to unpredictable wind currents sweeping over the Rocky Mountains, bringing rain, snow or sunshine, that we often joke to visitors, “If you don’t like the weather, just stick around for ten minutes and watch it change.” Happy to reside in...

Dad’s Quarters

My dad always collected quarters. He was delighted when the new U.S. state quarters were announced. He would go to his longtime neighborhood banker and make sure they put at least twenty rolls of each new quarter aside for him. It was a special treat and a family...