One week from today, I’ll leave on my yearly pilgrimage. For months those days have been blocked out on my calendar with very little thought about the actual journey. Now that I’m almost one year into my retirement from school nursing, I find that my life has been filled with new activities to take the … Continue reading Stepping Over the Threshold
Author: conniesedona317
Places in our Path
I saw the old church up in a field of broomsedge—or broom straw as we called it when I was a girl. I wanted to go inside, explore the abandoned building that once had been so alive-- maybe a hundred years ago. When I walked to the edge of the property, there was a fence … Continue reading Places in our Path
Competitive Edge
The young mother told me about their family’s plan to travel to Europe during our upcoming Spring Break. It wasn’t unusual in our affluent school community for students to travel to international locations. But as she told about taking all five children to Spain, Portugal, and Morocco, I found myself calculating the costs rather than … Continue reading Competitive Edge
Finding the Funny
I rummaged through the cabinet at the Cancer Resource Center. An older lady joined me looking through the wigs and hairpieces that had been donated. I didn’t need one, since my hairstylist and cancer nurse-therapist, Darlene at Lovely Lady Salon had fitted me in my short platinum-colored wig. It wasn’t the best—since it was an … Continue reading Finding the Funny
Blame it on Rumi
I awoke at 3:30 in the morning, Paris time, and couldn’t get back to sleep. In fact, I had barely rested the first two nights of our trip. My body wouldn’t be fooled into thinking it should be snoozing when it was six hours earlier at home. My mind was filled with the images of … Continue reading Blame it on Rumi
Be Present Now
The last week of that school year, I was standing in the grocery check-out, making my final purchase of health room supplies when I received a call from my younger sister. Our almost ninety-year-old mother was in the Emergency Room of our hometown hospital, being admitted for an acute illness. We’d never seen Mama so … Continue reading Be Present Now
Better than a Pen Pal
One of my favorite classes in elementary school was geography, especially in Miss Harrington’s fourth grade. I loved how we learned about the lives of people in faraway places. Back in that day, we would say they lived ‘overseas’ and that seemed like an insurmountable distance. The only people in my family that had traveled … Continue reading Better than a Pen Pal
Sedona: A Serendipitous Journey
Taking yearly pilgrimages started after my serendipitous journey to Sedona. What made that such a pivotal point, was the juxtaposition of entrapment with freedom. During the preceding eight months of cancer treatment, I’d been closely monitored; by the clinical trials research company I worked for to see if I was able to do my job; … Continue reading Sedona: A Serendipitous Journey
True Nature
I spotted the girl from across the room. She was the one, looking unabashedly into the camera, with eyes that are serious, like they’re gazing into your soul. I was at the Art Cats Gallery in Petoskey, Michigan during my solo journey several summers ago. The photograph had been applied to a fiber art collage … Continue reading True Nature
Manna
I thanked my friend for the “Thinking of You” card she’d sent, the one in my mailbox on top of the stack of bills. “Oh, that ole thing? I’m sorry it wasn’t a better one but it was what I had.” I knew why she’d said that; the card was a bit faded and the … Continue reading Manna
Connie Rosser Riddle 