Trish Hermanson's Blog: Croutons - Seasoned Bits of Life, page 6

My Daughter's Post Busted Me

      My daughter Ashley, who has suffered much this year with cancer, shared the following on Facebook, and it busted me. Please catch the song at the end, and scroll down in the video to SHOW MORE to see the lyrics:
     "A few nights ago Steve and I were reflecting on the Christmas story and he pointed out that it really is a story of hardship. A pregnancy that likely caused scandal for both Mary and Joseph, A journey at an inconvenient time, difficult accommodations, then fleeing for...

What Kind of Culture Are You Making?

     Meet my cousin Jan, a quilter who told me she auditions pieces of fabric to see which patterns work best together. Her sister Judy is a pianist who can resonate a room with a pipe organ. Another cousin excels in hosting. Another is a whiz with words. Another is an artist. Another has developed the skill of encouraging others. Another raises exotic birds. And my sister is a master gift-giver. We are all culture makers.     
     Im talking about the potential we each have to do...

Time to Take a Page from the Pilgrims' and Native Americans' Playbook?

     Yikes!- following the presidential election, half the country is relieved, half is up in arms, many face job losses and food insecurity, and more than 250,000 have died from Covid. Yet we’re supposed to celebrate Thanksgiving? How can we, especially when some argue that the Pilgrim/Native American story isn’t even true? But assuming some of it is, perhaps it’s time to take a page from the playbook of those first Americans.     
     Nearly half of the Pilgrims died from disease, and t...

The Flip that Flopped

     A few years back I’d tried to flip a house for profit. I tore out orange and green shag carpet and repainted faded walls to transform an eyesore into an invitation.     
     But the market was sluggish. The only serious buyer asked for money towards closing costs, a home warranty, and a backyard fence. So in order to move that property, I gave in. And what did I get? Nothing but a cheap plastic pen from the title company that I was using to scribble my name at closing.     
     The b...

What Kind of Pumpkin Are You?

     My granddaughter Maggie’s jack-o’-lantern reminds me of a song about pumpkins in a field that feared to be carved and illuminated. They claimed it was safer to stay put and simply die on the vine. But a lone voice among them responded that here was their opportunity to light up the darkness.     
     So what kind of pumpkin am I going to be during this time of national unrest? One that gives in to the gloom, or a jack-o-lantern spreading light? No matter who wins in the elections, a...

Surviving Wrecks in Our Lives

     I don’t know whether this accident was caused by a student driver or by someone who rear-ended the driver, but either way, someone was crunched emotionally - and perhaps worse. I’ve had car wrecks that wrenched my neck and totaled my car. In a similar way, I’ve experienced crushing times from crashes in my career, my economics, my health, and my relations.     
     I’m working through some long-lasting collisions these days. I think it's baloney to believe that "time heals all wounds...

How to 'Lego' of a Broken Relationship

     A friend of twenty years told me not to be in touch until she decides to connect again.     
     It wasn’t a fight that came between us. Not even a misunderstanding. She doesn’t want to get together as we always did because she said she’s “changed a lot.”     
     This stabs deep into my heart. Doesn’t she value me anymore?      I struggle to “Lego,” to let go, of a broken relationship. What I mean is, I struggle to let go of a friend who was once warm and vibrant but now has gone...

The Peril of Tagging

     If you’re getting your kicks out on America’s iconic Route 66, here’s one scene you don’t want to miss - Cadillac Ranch, classic Cadillacs buried nose down in a barren pasture outside Amarillo, Texas. Bring spray paint, and you can be among the thousands who have tagged these Caddies since they were “planted” more than four decades ago.     
     When I saw this, I wondered what profound thing I could write about this public art display. Such as: “all our treasures eventually turn to...

Why Sift Through Facts & Folly in Fragile Times

     In these fragile times, it would take more faith for me to be an atheist than to believe in God.     
     I don’t say this to “dis” my atheist friends whom I respect for their good and hard questions. I say this because of evidence I sifted through. As a young adult, I wondered whether Christianity stood up under the test of science and history, or whether it was just a bunch of Santa Claus at the North Pole.     
     I entered into a skeptical study of the historical Jesus, and es...

Clearing the Tangle Out of My Life

     Marie Kondo, the professional declutterer, would smile about all the clearing out I’ve accomplished since Covid has kept me homebound more than usual.     
     It started with our chopping down two arborvitae trees in our yard that died. After that I trimmed dead branches deep in an eight-foot-tall shrub; pruned scruffy undergrowth in a thirty-foot-tall blue spruce; and lobbed off thorny limbs from a Russian olive tree that threatened to reach out and grab me.     
     Then I moved...