Blog

Why I write about the man in cowboy boots

My dad was a feed store man in the Great Valley of California. He was a country boy from the South Dakota plains, and I don’t think he ever spent a day without his feet in cowboy boots.

Things my dad used to say

When we were little, my dad made up a song about our breakfast cereal to get us to eat it. “We like Crispy Critters / And we know Crispy Critters like us / We like Crispy Critters / And we eat them without any fuss.” (It always worked.)

It's never too late to have that birthday cupcake

To celebrate our 62nd birthdays, my best friend and I recently spent the weekend in Disneyland. Despite creaky knees and stiff backs, we were ready to party like … well, like eight-year-olds.

What's love got to do with the nut business?

When I think about love, I remember how my childhood friend, Danny, and I used to gather black walnuts and sell them to my dad at his feed store. There were dozens of black walnut trees around the dairy where Danny lived, and his dad was too busy milking cows to take an interest in them.

Why do these songs make me so emotional?

Lately I’ve been listening to my old Jackson Browne CDs while driving in the car. Although I’ve heard them a hundred times before, the opening chord of every song catches me by the throat. Yesterday I cried three times on my drive home from Petaluma. Why do these songs make me so emotional?

Finding purpose, passion, and goodness

When I look back on my childhood for clues about who I am today, I see that I’ve always been someone who gathers people together. First it was the “Shell Club.” The whole idea revolved around an abalone shell my Uncle Darel brought back for me from his diving trip.

Share your story in the circle of love

At a time like this, when our Sonoma/Napa/Mendocino communities have been devastated by fires, it’s hard to know what to think, do, or feel. My house was spared, but so many others weren’t. People lost homes, animals, and family members, and we all lost wildlife and wildlands.

How to find the root of truth

A few months ago, I had lunch with a long-time friend who was moving across country. After our sandwiches and burgers, the time came for that farewell hug. As we embraced, I felt the tears squeeze out, and I said, “I’m not crying because you’re leaving. I’m crying because, in your leaving, I feel how much I love you.”

What's behind your backyard fence?

I like to think of writing as a search for things that have been lost, hidden, misplaced, ignored, forgotten, buried, or stashed behind the backyard fence. See there? As soon as I wrote “backyard fence,” I saw an image of the dog-eared fence behind the pink stucco house where I lived as a little girl.

Are you a good protector of your sacred time?

When parents decide to have a baby, they commit to spending the time it takes to grow that infant into a healthy adult. Even when it seems there is no time to do it, they make room in their busy schedules to feed, entertain, comfort, teach, and play with that child.

It's never too late to have a happy childhood

A seminal moment in my life occurred when I was barely three years old. I remember sitting on the kitchen counter, pouring chocolate chips into Mom’s cookie dough. In a nod to our teamwork, my very pregnant mother said, “Two heads are better than one.”