I woke up this morning thankful for another year. In one of my dreams, I hugged my Grandma Schatz, tiny but solid. Can she see how far I have come? How I’m still soaked in her love? Last night Kk came home to a sleeping house. She woke us up with her, “Hello?!” So happy! […]
Category: Gratitude
The Bookstore
The Bookstore by Nancy Schatz Alton The sounds of the women talking meet the music. The door creaks as it opens and closes. People arrive and leave. We spill together, sometimes in silence, often in talking. We collide: Mark Nepo and poetry; who cares if a celebrity endorses a book; which meditation guide; how do […]
Satiated
Satiation by Nancy Schatz Alton Full the feeling of fullness: Texting with my brother at 6am 100 pieces left of the puzzle Liz walking off to talk to people who are not her best friends The way hair falls into place right after a haircut An email from a good friend Another email about […]
Stretch
Decades ago, a friend gave me a bookmark that read: “Stretch yourself for greatness and for height.” (George Chapman, perhaps?) Lately I’ve been stretching myself. I’m not taller. And I think this stretching means I have more deadlines. Which means I’m tired. I’m writing this blog before I turn to more work. Prepping for the […]
Real Love
If I love what is real, I love the trees outside my window in the same way that I love bad endings. The click of a phone line that ended a friendship. The way it opened me up into seeing what still surrounds me. My husband asking me if I missed my friend. My husband […]
The Daily Posting Continues…
I can’t log onto Facebook. I’ve managed to get myself locked out due to using two-factor identification and not being patient while waiting for passwords. This is a good thing. I had already started limiting my time to using it for work and no longer logging on after work or on weekends. But I wasn’t […]
November
November* by Nancy Schatz Alton What will I miss when I’m gone? The smell of my Grandma Becker’s house, her front steps. The run over to Grandma Schatz’s porch, her kitchen with the square of wood I stood on and moved by moving my hips, the ceiling decorated with homemade noodles, her over-sweetening my cereal […]
Everything changes too fast.
Everything changes too fast. By Nancy Schatz Alton A friend asks me, ‘What’s it like to paddle board in the fog?’ She doesn’t know that my husband and I put the paddle board away in its winter home last night, atop the fishing boat. He might take the boat out again before spring. I might […]
Making a Path
Making a Path by Nancy Schatz Alton We are whacking our way through a forest, untamed. Underneath the understory there’s a million stories: Everyone who came before us making a path of every mistake and misstep broken trust and dried out bones wheels falling off the tracks ruts underneath the understory. We make our own […]
Making Pizza Dough
I make time to make dinner for my family even though I’ll be at work when they eat it. It’s the opposite of making them do things for themselves. It’s the ultimate in taking care of someone else even as anyone can argue that my family should take care of themselves. But this making dinner […]