Blog Posts
When I looked down and realized that I was twice the height of the treetops, my stomach flip-flopped … my head started to spin. I could hardly manage to hold onto the steel ladder leading straight up to the fire tower lookout. I was in northern Wisconsin with some friends (in my early 20s). They’d…
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My little-girl self was terrified of the deserted farmhouse up a dirt road from the suburb where I grew up in the 1960s. The family who had lived there still owned the land and rented the pasture and barn to local horse owners. The abandoned house seemed to be crumbling into the ground. When my…
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The Chicago wind slapped my face as I stepped out of the dentist’s office on Valentine’s Day in 1988. I’d just finished my first root canal and had no plans for a romantic evening … or any romantic prospects on the horizon. It was 3 pm and I felt lousy. Instead of returning to work,…
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I walked into Margene’s Wagstaff’s office in the spring of 1977 wearing a jean skirt that I’d embroidered with flowers and a gauzy peasant top. My hippy garb was out of place with Margene’s prim and proper attire. She wore a coordinated sweater set and plaid skirt with pearls and classy loafers. We couldn’t have…
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In graduate school, I worked as the nutrition coordinator for an adult fitness and cardiac rehabilitation program associated with a university. As a relatively new position in the organization, it lacked established processes. Bright-eyed, naive, and optimistic, I proposed lots of new ideas to enhance and expand the nutrition services. Phil, the director, who was…
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Instead of checking my email before work, I called my mom to wish her happy birthday. When I walked into the office, I could tell something was odd. My boss walked past me without greeting or eye contact. Looking out at the sea of cubicles, I noticed that everyone had their heads down. I felt…
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In the third installment of my travel series, we have some new runes to contemplate, as well as a hike … that didn’t go as planned. June 25, 2022: Inguz, Laguz, and Raido Runes We woke on Saturday morning in a charming AirBNB rental, called the Rainbow Cabin in Nederland, CO. Once a bustling mining…
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The second installment of the travel series starts with the first leg of my 2022 road trip with my husband and flashes back to the story about my canoe trip in 1978, which was introduced in my last post. Sowulo Rune, June 21, 2022 The sun lit the night sky late into the evening of the…
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Today, the Summer Solstice 2022, I woke up in Champerlain, SD, the first leg of a 2-week road trip with our teardrop camper. Welcoming the longest day of the year and excited about finishing the day at a campsite in the Black Hills, I find myself reflecting on a travel story from a vacation I…
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