Tag Archives: life lessons

When the French Killed My False Faith in Meritocracy

A year after my fiftieth birthday, the leadership structure where I worked underwent some significant changes. When change happens at the very top, the rest only rolls one way, demonstrating the laws of gravity. I was right in the middle of that way. After spending my entire adult life working to climb that particular corporate […]

Truth, Love and the False Value of Relativity

Growing up, I was told to never discuss politics or religion with someone I had no relationship with; and even if I did have a relationship with said person, to tread carefully. In many ways, this was wise advice. Both realms, reflect our core beliefs and values (or perceptions) about what we believe is right […]

Unlearning the Money Trap in My Second Life

What was once a planned break to write my memoir has since become my unplanned retirement from pharmaceutical marketing. My unexpected life’s career when I expected my life’s career would be something else entirely. At one point it was ministry, then teaching, and then looking for any job to pay back my student loans. Taking […]

Why Context is Critical and Intention is Everything

It’s a cold, gray and rainy day and I couldn’t be happier. This melancholy message might seem like a strange sentence to script, but I live in Vegas; and it’s been over 200 days since we’ve had rain; almost seven months. An ashen atmosphere dropping dust infused droplets on a hard and harsh habitat. Streetlights […]

Why I Write: A Reminder to Myself

I never intended to spend my “retirement” years reflecting and writing about my faith and modern-day American culture. Instead, I assumed I would spend my second adult life just like my corporate adult years. Denying the reality of God, continuing to make my life only about me, and following the rules of the Empire to […]

Let’s Get Spiritual: Five Exercises to Nourish Your Soul

In the desert darkness of winter, the Light of the world appeared to me and my burdens were lifted. My life’s purpose clear as I came to embrace the Truth. This Prodigal child welcomed back into his Father’s fold. A soul no longer in isolation. A soul in restoration.     This February, twenty-two to be […]

Empire Medals: Why the Pursuit of Worldly Prizes Means Nothing

Last week President Biden awarded nineteen recipients with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors. As one might expect, there was “outrage” from those […]

So, This is Christmas at Fifty-Eight

I love the Christmas season. It’s a sensual spectacle for my soul. The yummy treats that appear only once a year, even if my appetite for them is a year-round event. The power of light to pierce the short December days and even longer December nights. The glorious music. The profane and holy, both speaking […]

Buying, Moving and Owning Nothing

For the last three weeks of my life, everything has been about moving, money and materials. Cardboard boxes, clear packaging tape and cylinders of bubble wrap. The latter as much for the cat as it is for those items we’ve deemed fragile. Our cat not among the fragile, but the treasured. Navigating a regulatory real […]

Reflections on Aging, Life and Death at Fifty-Eight

We are born into an earthly existence that is measured in milestones, memories and moments. A process that begins at birth; recording our arrival time and location. A process that ends with death; recording our departure time and location. Our lives bookended by numbers that simply state our commencement and our closure as the dearly departed.