Something big is missing in this photo. Let me explain.   Here in my hometown, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe prepared a parcel of land...

Fifty years ago, I attended a high school leadership camp. It was designed to be a mixture of fun and instructive activities that would...

I was just a few minutes later than usual getting to my bus, and by the time I boarded a young woman had taken my favorite seat. So much...

We were hacking our way through the thick underbrush. The land had been logged some years prior, and now hearty undergrowth was competing...

I watched the bicyclist  approach the bus driver to ask how much the fare to Seattle was. He had a French accent. The driver told him,...

My mom and her sister spent many childhood summers at a small rustic cabin deep in the woods next to a pristine lake. They hiked, fished,...

We’d been storing the huge window panel in our shed—it was being kept for “one of those days” when it could be used for a greenhouse. So,...

During the summer months, in an outside seating area, a delightfully painted piano sits with a sign that says, “Play me”. It was just...

I was visiting my grandparents at their remote cabin, deep in the woods of Northern Idaho. Read: no electricity or indoor bathroom. They...

It had been blistering hot on my grandpa’s wheat ranch. We’d gotten the call that harvest would be a week sooner because it was nearly...

There was once a reality show about shedding for the wedding—it was a couples’ competition to see who could lose the most weight to win a...

I had my excuses for taking the low road, but Dad wasn’t accepting them. At the time, I could blame my parent’s divorce, a difficult new...

Walking back from the library, my granddaughter exclaimed, “I’m going to climb that.” I looked over at the daycare play structures we...

I placed our letters in the mailbox, clearly marked Grad-O-Grams. My daughter had asked if we wanted to write our soon-to-graduate...

Long ago, we enjoyed celebrating my grandson’s birthday at the beach. As he waited for friends and family to arrive, he gripped a huge...

We said goodbye to our faithful truck this week. While I knew this day would eventually come, I didn’t think I would be the one behind...

Recently my son pulled out an old newspaper article that had been written about my mom. A whole section was devoted to her little log...

Dear Ms. Thorstrom, I should have written this letter after I’d finished high school—to thank you for helping me through my junior year....

I took a picture of this terrific guy who has been alongside me on life’s journey for over forty-five years. I’ve had way more life with...

I’d seen the World War II Veteran about a year ago, sitting in Safeway’s Starbuck coffee area. I thought about stopping to greet him, but...