Trish Hermanson's Blog: Croutons - Seasoned Bits of Life, page 21

Signs of the Times?

     This sign behind a supermarket loading dock cracked me up: “Pickup Location.” Is this a dating service?
     Other signs that have made me chuckle:
     On a Texas interstate, a sign for an upcoming “Safety Rest Area,” then neon yellow signs warning “Watch for Rattlesnakes.”
     Outside the entrance to a memory care unit: “Future Resident Parking.” You think I’ll park there?
     In a women’s restroom: “I childproofed my house, but they still get in.”
     A Colorado sign warning “Post...

What Tree Are Thee?

     I am a beech tree in a forest of oaks.
     That’s what I discovered when my scientist son-in-law described how oaks are the king of the forest. Their colossal boughs create such a wide canopy they cut off sunlight so other trees can’t flourish, Steve said.
     Except for one - the beech. Like the little engine that could, it chugs through the envelope of darkness that oaks create until it finds a space for itself, sometimes carving a path between the oak’s branches.
     So I am a b...

The Girl Who Lived

     Born with a genetic disorder, Melody was “incompatible with life,” tight-lipped doctors told her parents. She may not survive for a week.
     But Melody did, and at twenty days old, doctors sent her home with hospice care, not expecting her to live much longer. At five weeks, she languished near death. Her parents picked out a burial plot. But Melody rallied and made it to a year. Then another. And another. And another.
     When Melody turned five recently, friends decorated a gymn...

Is Easter a Fairy Tale?

     Is Easter a fairy tale?
     All that stuff about angels and a death and resurrection?
     Consider this: J.R.R. Tolkien, who gave us The Lord of the Rings, says that fairy tales enable us to escape time and death, commune with nonhuman beings, find perfect love, and triumph over evil. That’s what makes them so popular.
    Author Tim Keller says these elements satisfy “the deepest desires of the human heart.” They are “a memory trace of the garden of Eden” because “deep in your hea...

What Do E.T. and Dorothy Long For?

     What do both E.T. and Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz long for?
     It’s a simple, four-letter word.
     E.T. pointed his bony finger toward the heavens and mourned for home.
     Dorothy faced a Wicked Witch with Flying Monkeys to get back home.
     We all aspire for the peace and comfort that’s inherent in that little word.
      In fact, we may have the best of times with family and friends. But after we say our goodbyes, we may sense that what we’ve experienced is just a taste of som...

The Truth about St. Patrick

     I don’t mean to make you Irish cry in your green beer, but here’s the shocking truth about your patron saint: Patrick wasn’t Irish. He was English. And in Patrick’s story, the Irish aren’t the good guys.
     In the fifth century, Patrick was captured by the Irish from his English home and hauled off to become a slave, working as a swineherd.
     Patrick, a lackluster follower of God, prayed for his freedom and escaped. He fled and made it back to England to be reunited with his fam...

Is My Life a Great Story?

     Ever compare your life to a great story? I have.
     By “great story,” I mean one that I don’t read; it reads me. It plunges me down the mine shaft of my soul, hands me a pickax, and demands I chisel at the dross until I uncover treasures. It reveals secrets I don’t know about myself, or something I know but feared to face.
     A great story seduces me, then abandons me on its final page, leaving me bereft. Yet its memory enables me to rise, still mourning, and re-enter life with a...

Barbara's Trip from Woodstock to Foodstock

     She was one of those ’60s people Joni Mitchell sang about, a child of God walking along a road that led to Woodstock. Seeds of goodwill from attending that music festival planted in Barbara Moore’s soul.
     But they lay dormant for years, squelched by life in the corporate fast lane. Then Barbara asked herself what she really wanted. “To get back to the garden.”
     She learned that more than 200,000 children struggle with hunger every day in Colorado. Some receive free or reduced...

Why I Fight for Peace

     Within walking distance of our home, I stop at the front porch of a woman who survived the sinking of the Titanic because I’m trying to figure out how to survive my own shipwreck.
     Molly Brown built this summer cottage to escape a disaster other than the Titanic - the hassle of her modern life. From her home in downtown Denver, Molly would travel two and one-half hours by horse-drawn carriage along a dirt road to her lodge, a pastoral retreat near the banks of Bear Creek.
     Fa...

The Curse of Olympians

     One stumble at the Olympics cost American figure skater Debi Thomas the gold, but it’s her stumbles since then that have been more costly.
     Considered the best African American skater in history, Thomas carried home the bronze metal from Calgary thirty years ago. She also captured gold, silver, and bronze in World Championships. And all this while studying at Stanford University. Medical school followed for Thomas, then licensure as an orthopedic surgeon.
     Fast forward - Thom...