The Lens: Do you like quiet? I prefer a degree of daytime quiet. However, unless I am trying to sleep, I find daytime silence unsettling. I need some kind of background noise. Are you a background noise person? If so,…
Believing the Unbelievable
The Lens: Pandemic Christmas. What did yours look like? Our pandemic Christmas looked drastically different than our usual Christmas. In a typical year, we would spend Christmas Eve with my side of the family, anywhere from 15 to 20+ people.…
Misunderstandings
The Lens: A short read today. I’m on a roll with my Christmas movies. Last night we watched our must-see Christmas movie: White Christmas. It was a long-time tradition in my family growing up, and has continued with my own…
Reflection
The Lens: My oldest son came over last night to watch a holiday movie with us. We had already watched “It’s a Wonderful Life,” so I told my son he could pick from one of our other favorites. Holding up…
What Do You Mean “Was?”
The Lens: I was watching the morning news recently and was struck by a network “Coming this Fall on TV” commercial. I tape the news each day and went back later for another look-see. Here are the stats from the…
Patience Is a Virtue
The Lens: I don’t think we can understate what a year this has been. We started with a pandemic that is still in full swing. We became embroiled in a seemingly never-ending fight against systemic racism in this country. In…
Just One Generation
The Lens: I recently read an article originally printed in “The Washington Post” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/07/27/slave-son-racism-george-floyd/) about Daniel Smith, the living son of a slave. It was a sobering read. He was born in 1932 when his father was 70 years old.…
Rites, Services, Ceremonies
The Lens: As if times weren’t trying enough, we had a death in the family. My sister-in-law’s long-time boyfriend passed away. While they weren’t married or living together, he had been a part of our family for well more than…
The Monkey On My Back
The Lens: A couple of months ago, my cousin sent out a group email. Her sister had a significant birthday coming up and she wanted to do something special. With a party out of the question, she was reaching out…
The “Dear Abby Test”
The Lens: Not long ago, my husband and I started watching “Last Tango in Halifax.” If you are unfamiliar with the show, it is about two people in their 70s who find each other after roughly 60 years. They had…