Bragging rights

People told me not to brag or show off before I hit kindergarten. It was a constant hymn that was the background music of my childhood. Don’t outshine the people around you. Don’t break the curve. Don’t don’t don’t. Here’s the thing. There are parts of me that are genuinely exceptional. Some are inherent, and…

Gratitude 25–27

I’ve missed a couple of days of confessing my gratitude, but I’m grateful to have maintained it. I’m grateful for books. My grandmother was an avid fiction reader as are my sister, my six-day-older cousin, and I. My mother loved encyclopedias. My dad was always a newspaper and magazine guy. Reading has always been a…