That Good Part

Sigh. As I write, I’m waiting to have a medical test because a previous test was not good news. Not scary news, but not good news. This week, and it’s only Thursday, I have three friends waiting for test results. I’m doing a lot of praying for good news. I am a recovering news addict, someone for whom 24 hour news channels were created. Well, I don’t know that I’m really recovering, I just don’t watch t.v. news anymore and instead read all my news on the internet. That’s because I can read from five different sites all the news that is relevant to me in the time the t.v news takes to tell me a story about a duck that was rescued from a sewer drain in a town I’ll never go to. This might be news to the people who live on that street, it is not news to me, for me or about me. Good news for the duck, not news for me. Every one of us likes good news. No one likes the question of good news/bad news because who ever wants bad news? You know what? Bad news is coming. Sorry, it just is...

You can tell it’s fall when the weather changes…to really hot in Southern California. While the middle section of the country is starting to get out their sweaters and their closed toes shoes, we are raiding the home improvement stores for one more fan or trying to find a parking spot at the beach. For SoCal natives, we love when school starts because we now have the beaches all to ourselves during one of the hottest times of the year. Mostly locals, most of the time. Fall is when two of my favorite things happen-the return of football and the return of women’s Bible study. For me, baseball season ends the day training camp begins, and summer reading gives way to commentaries, language helps and comparison texts. And crocheting. I read a disturbing article this week by a teacher who educates children in a high poverty area. In it she says “In higher-income communities, there are an estimated 13 books for every 1 child; in lower-income communities, the ratio hovers at   1 b...