I spotted the Santa holding the globe on an after- Christmas sale table. That’s mine, I thought and wasn’t sure why I was so attracted to it. But then looking around my house, I was reminded of the globes and maps I’d collected, drawn to the landforms of the earth and the blues of the … Continue reading Your Favorite Things
#solojourneys
Carry a Song
I crossed over Jordan Lake listening to one of my favorite songs, “God of Wonders” in what became my ritual for preparing for radiation treatments. I followed the same pattern in an attempt to make the unfamiliar seem routine; leave home at the same time, put in the Third Day CD when I pulled out … Continue reading Carry a Song
My ADHD Made Me Do It
The patrolman handed me the dreaded paper and stepped back into his car with the flashing blue lights. How in the world can this be happening, again, I thought, my third ticket in eighteen months. What was wrong with a fifty-something-year-old woman, mother to adult sons, and responsible nurse-- in this trouble again? My mind raced … Continue reading My ADHD Made Me Do It
Don’t You Deserve to be Cared For?
"I thought I was done with cancer. But now they're saying I need lymphedema treatment," I told her, irritated at this interruption in my life. I'd traveled to Edisto Island, South Carolina for my second solo journey the day after I'd been assessed at the Lymphedema Clinic. When they told me I'd need intensive treatment, … Continue reading Don’t You Deserve to be Cared For?
Journeys to the Past
At this time of year, I feel a yearning to return to childhood. I long to smell the cedar tree decorated with a string of large multi-colored lights and icicles; to taste the cherries in my aunt's paper-thin cookies; to feel the rush of being in the basement of Rose's Dime Store looking at my hoped-for … Continue reading Journeys to the Past
Enlarge My Territory
The day after I was fired from The Research Company, I packed my suitcase for our family vacation at Kiawah Island, South Carolina. I was in a state of shock, thinking that for the first time in my adult life, I had no job to return to. My husband, David came in and handed me … Continue reading Enlarge My Territory
Hostel Mama at Martha’s Vineyard
The first time I stayed in a hostel it was not because my family encouraged me. My older son couldn’t believe it, questioning my rationale with, “Mom, you’re gonna stay in a hostel with axe murderers?” and then my younger son said, “Aren’t you too old to stay there? I thought they were for college … Continue reading Hostel Mama at Martha’s Vineyard
Second Chance to Know You
It was 1966 and he was home on leave for Thanksgiving. My cousin, Danny and my Grandma Smith hold his fresh catch from her farm pond. He'd just completed boot camp and was ready to serve on the USS Cacapon docked in Long Beach, California. I was an eleven-year-old kid looking up to my twenty-two-year … Continue reading Second Chance to Know You
Looking Back Looking Forward
I study the photograph from four years ago with me standing next to a tall red rock in the Garden of the Gods Park in Colorado Springs. It was unusual for me to take my solo journey in April, but that trip was planned around the Pikes Peak Writers’ Conference. On that Monday afternoon, I … Continue reading Looking Back Looking Forward
On Pilgrimage with Harold Fry
One morning when I walked in my neighborhood, I made a serendipitous discovery; a Little Free Library had just been installed. Inside the birdhouse for books, I spotted a title that caught my eye—The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. Months later when our Edinburgh-bound train passed Berwick-upon-Tweed, I remembered how it had been the right … Continue reading On Pilgrimage with Harold Fry
Connie Rosser Riddle 