Category Archives: Getting Old

Alyx Amber, Miss Portland 2017

Posted on July 22, 2017 by hessd

I want to reflect a little today on Alyx Amber, [1] who is currently Facility Services Coordinator at Holladay Park Plaza, where Bette and I live. She is also Miss Portland 2017. I put her name in the first sentence … Continue reading →

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There is more to this story

Posted on July 4, 2017 by hessd

Does this illustration remind you of anything? It reminded me of that whirlwind survey of the relationship of Carl and Ellie Fredericksen, with which the movie, Up, begins. They are little children, they are lovers, they are spouses, then he … Continue reading →

Posted in A life of faith, Getting Old, Words | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Why am I doing this?

Posted on June 9, 2017 by hessd

I would like to thing about two questions today. The first is “WHY am I doing this” The second is “Why am I doing THIS?” I want to think, in other words, about motivation and discernment. Motivation. A motivation is … Continue reading →

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Deciding to Eat Out

Posted on May 28, 2017 by hessd

We all have values we say we hold and, as a subcategory, values we actually hold. [1] And these values, my values and your values, are very often the same, differing only in rank order. “Only,” he says. Nearly all … Continue reading →

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Now bring on the victory laps

Posted on April 26, 2017 by hessd

When I first began to formulate the metaphor of victory laps in 1977 (much more later), my wife, Donnie, and our children—then 16, 14, and 12—were living in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania on a little circle of houses kept for new … Continue reading →

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Remembering Dad at Easter

Posted on April 19, 2017 by hessd

My father has been dead for more than thirty years, but every Easter, I remember him as vividly as if we talked just last week. I am going to show you two really ordinary pictures today. They are pictures of … Continue reading →

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Thanksgiving, 2016

Posted on November 25, 2016 by hessd

Whenever I begin to formulate a sentence about Thanksgiving, I think of my mother painfully contorting the sentence into “We have so much for which to be thankful.”  She was determined to avoid ending a sentence with a proposition if … Continue reading →

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Even the faintest breeze

Posted on October 31, 2016 by hessd

I want to share, today, some of the amazing people I see here at Holladay Park Plaza—the retirement center where Bette and I have wound up. But I don’t want to start there. I want to start with some dogs … Continue reading →

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Yesterday when it is past

Posted on October 4, 2016 by hessd

Today I would like to tell you about some surprises I have encountered in moving from one kind of life to another. That sounds more momentous that it would really need to but I am going to start with a … Continue reading →

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New Life, New Categories

Posted on September 28, 2016 by hessd

The time it takes me to go from “having an experience” to “having “a kind of experience” has gotten perilously short. I don’t think I have put anyone in danger yet, but the transition from the one to the other … Continue reading →

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