Years ago we were sitting on our front porch taking a break in the tropical heat chatting with the father of our teenage daughter’s best friend. He was reminiscing about his family’s long years in this primitive third-world country where we now served alongside him. The stories began to flow and I’ve never been the…
Cannibals
The drone of the approaching small airplane drew a crowd of villagers to the dirt airstrip to await its landing. In a remote jungle village, the arrival of the airplane provided a break from the monotony of daily life. . . a curiosity, a diversion, some free entertainment. But when the new-to-the-area pilot climbed down…
Boomerang
Want to be happy? Make someone else happy! Happiness is a boomerang – you send it out to someone and it returns. Think of all those times when it just seemed like a lot of effort to make someone else happy. But afterward, you were happier yourself! We all know that making others happy makes us…
Privilege
They were a despised minority in a third-world country. The father of three died very young, leaving his wife with tiny twin girls and a pre-schooler. The struggling young wife became overwhelmed and lost her sanity. The pre-schooler was taken in by an aunt who cared nothing for her and treated her like a…
Later
Dear Husband volunteered to help plan his high school 50th reunion scheduled for this Fall. One of his duties is to contact classmates to tell them about the reunion. Catching up with folks he hadn’t had much, if any contact with, for fifty years has been enlightening. While searching for a former classmate, Husband visited…
Negative Nelly
“I never got Rice Krispies,” whined Negative Nelly. I was shocked that these snarky words jumped out of my mouth during an innocuous family conversation about cold cereal. Indeed, negative words tumble of my mouth with little provocation. Husband had said that as a child, he was allowed to eat Rice Krispies sometimes because…