Let Freedom Ring

Popular use of the phrase “let freedom ring” comes from its use in the song “America” (My Country, ‘Tis of Thee), written by Samuel Francis Smith in 1831. Dr. Martin Luther King referenced both the song and the phrase in his famous speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August…

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Back Pain

I suffer from lower back pain. Thankfully it is not constant and is often tied to my controllable behaviors. The better I take care of myself, the less pain I experience. Today is one of the days where I hurt, and I have been thinking about how that affects me. While pain is necessary as…

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I Feel Loved

In “I Feel Loved,” the 2001 release by English electronic group Depeche Mode, Martin Gore’s lyrics paint a picture of how feeling loved cuts through pain and heartache and loneliness. It’s the dark night of my soulAnd temptation’s taking holdBut through the pain and the sufferingThrough the heartache and tremblingI feel loved I recently heard a…

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Sick And Tired

I got sick this past week, and I should have seen it coming. I have less than optimum sinuses. Two surgeries and a lot of OTC meds later, I live a mostly normal life, but from time to time I miss the clues, fail to care for myself, and end up with a sinus infection.…

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The Eyes Have It

I wish I could see like a chameleon, but I wouldn’t want to look like one. They have panoramic binocular eyes which can move independently from each other giving them 360° vision. That kind of sight would be very helpful to a parent! Each creatures’ eyes are uniquely suited to their way of life. Eagles can…

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Fake Plastic Trees

Are you tired? Not “I only got three hours of sleep last night…” tired, but weary, soul heavy, worn-out tired. Have you ever used a paper towel to scrub the stove? It works for a few swipes, but then it rapidly starts falling apart and turning to mush. The paper towel wasn’t meant to be…

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The Middleman

I spent a significant portion of my life doing things to avoid emotional pain. A couple days ago, I caught a lyric from a new single by Twenty One Pilots. In their song, “Choker”, lead singer Tyler Joseph sings, “pain is just a middleman.” That is a really concise way to describe what it took…

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Risky Business

If you know anything about Oklahoma, you know that the state is known for its tornadoes. Oklahoma is the center of Tornado Alley, a stretch of the central part of the United States between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains, and often ranks at or near the top for total number of tornadoes, total…

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Pyromaniacs

I love fireworks. I have always had a fascination with fire and explosions. So much so, that as a very young person I read everything I could find about pyrotechnics (fireworks) and started experimenting to make my own fireworks. My parents had given me a fairly extensive chemistry set for a Christmas present, and I…

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Shiny Things

“Life is about perspective and how you look at something… ultimately, you have to zoom out.”  – Whitney Wolfe Herd I have a friend who finds great enjoyment and some amount of solace in having something to look forward to. It doesn’t really matter what it is, as long as it is in the reasonably…

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