Personal Writings

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Acknowledging My Mother’s Birthday Today

Taking a few moments from my busy day – after having noticed the date – to mention that my mother, Margaret Ruth Linger Slifer, was born on this day ninety-nine years ago. Last night before bed, I opened my mother’s red diary to browse through her notations from April 1946 and then her large-hand-written notations in the same journal in January of 1967. I was three years old then, and apparently, she was quite upset around that time (reflective) about...

Untethered Excursions

When I lived in Alabama I yearly attended and volunteered at a large hot-air balloon festival. There, I learned what a tethered balloon ride was and took one, maybe once or twice. Once a hot-air balloon lifts off the ground and the tethering rope is no longer keeping it within certain parameters from the ground, safe navigation is dependent upon the skill of the balloon pilot but also upon other variable conditions such as wind. On occasion, there are balloon...

Awakening in Ashes

This morning I count myself among the countless human beings that awake in ashes day-after-day-after-day, and continue in their unseen warzone. They awake to find themselves seemingly drafted and re-drafted day-after-day-after-day in some internal warzone that is well-grounded in external circumstances – and to some extent in the actions of other people. People watch from afar, yet only a few are able to bring us water like “good old grinnin’, gruntin’ Gunga Din…” Not that they wouldn’t bring us water...