Live a Meaningful Life

1. Maintaining an appearance --wait before I lose you, hear me out. We almost all have some areas within our lives where we do things to give an impression or to conform with some unspoken norms in the social circles in which we operate. Let me give you 2 examples from my own life. When my oldest son was ready to start kindergarten he wanted a backpack with a superhero on it-you know, the ones from Walmart. Well, I knew he needed something different, really unique with maybe his name sewn on-or better yet, maybe a really expensive unique outdoor brand. I am not kidding! I ALMOST did a little manipulating by taking him to a store and having him pick his backpack out at "this" store. I was shocked when I realized my real intent. I was already prepping him to play the "name tag" game at school. It has been a long time since I was in public school, but I still remember how bad I wanted all my jeans to have the triangle with with the ?. And just for the record, my so

I have been looking inward a lot lately. Questioning motives, evaluating outward behavior, and scrutinizing my thought life. One of the things that has really been pressing on me lately is presence. You know, really being with and paying attention to those you are around. Over the past 2 or 3 months I can't tell you how many times I have been in mid conversation with someone and they walk off to attend to another task or start attending to someone else. Sometimes, I get it. But to be honest, the distractions were minor in most of the instances. And to top it off, they never returned to finish the conversation.  YES, I thought of the obvious: "maybe you talk too much, you are boring, people just aren't interested in what you have to say." So, I am working on being more silent. Because the truth is, most of the time, the things I am talking about are shallow anyway, and I am boring. And, before you feel the need to change my mind--I am ok with it, I promise! The w

First off, just know if you have active children (ones who like to climb, crawl, run, and explore) you have to put this place on your "go to this place" list! A friend I work with told me about it. I had never heard of the place before. None of the pictures I have or the videos/pictures online do the place justice. It is phenomenal. It is probably the greatest man-made attraction we have been to.  City Museum in St. Louis, Missouri, is an old bread warehouse that has been transformed into an active playground using iron, metal, and concrete art!  We were amazed as we were walking in. Creations were everywhere. And the best part-you could climb and play on everything! There were no "Do not touch" signs!  Here they are--all geared and ready for the day's adventures.  This was the bottom of the staircase. Behind the staircase, the wall is made out of loaf pans. Almost all of the museum is made from salvaged items. It is amazing what people c