Early in the pandemic, I promised not to write about it every week.

Spiritual directors in the Christian tradition have been utilizing the Enneagram for decades, but in recent years the awareness and interest in the Enneagram has steadily grown and gone mainstream.

Good Monday morning to all, and here’s hoping we’ll get a short breather this week before the political ads start running close on the heels of the party conventions.

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Today is Aug. 26 but it feels like March 156, the sensation that we’ve been repeating the same day over and over since mid-March. That’s when the coronavirus established itself throughout the U.S., and the real possibility of contracting the highly contagious disease forced inside our homes …

One of the phrases that made the 2019 “Banished Words List,” an annual record of overused words and phrases published annually by Lake Superior State University, was, “Most important election of our time.” 

When my sweet middle child, my only daughter, was a freshman at Auburn University years ago, she made an exasperated call to me on a Friday afternoon.  

It has occurred to me that, somewhere over the past several months during weak moments, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and Nashville Mayor John Cooper have had to wonder why in the world they wanted the jobs they now have.

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My column from last week, celebrating the start of baseball, was outdated by the time it was posted.

“Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this sun of York,” recites the character Gloucester in Shakespeare’s “Richard III.” 

It is almost the end of July and we are in the season of those annoying “pop-up” thunderstorms that seem to make their way into every weather forecast we hear on a daily basis.

Last week I went to the customer service desk of a local department store and said to the clerk, “I’d like to return 2020. It’s not working.”

My spouse and I ventured out into the July heat and humidity a few nights ago to join some friends for outside socialization.

Chances are you did not witness an elaborate display of fireworks over the Independence Day weekend, but maybe you were able to engage in some sort of celebration, even as we continue to deal with this blasted pandemic.

As neighboring Nashville has recently announced a mask mandate, let’s hope that Nashvillians and Williamson County residents don’t respond the way some of the residents of Palm Beach County, Florida reacted when their local government was preparing to vote on a mask requirement.  I watched t…

Today it is my honor to introduce you to my new friend, Inetta Gaines. 

Many of you have received your first large electric bill of the season reflecting the temperature change and although you are enjoying the beautiful hot days after being cooped up for months, you aren’t enjoying the high energy bills.

Kids must dedicate themselves to years of study and performance before there is any direct application for the career they will eventually pursue. It is asking a lot of teenagers.

When I started writing this column nine years ago this month (which boggles the mind), it was called “What I Know.”

Now that you have talked to your child about protests and fairness and then followed up with a discussion about the importance of being a person of honor and good conscience, it is time for a talk about racism.

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"My husband served 20 years in the military for our country, and I fear for his life more today than I ever did. Because one bad situation, one wrong thing said, and he could be gone."

It has been recorded here in past installments that summer is not my favorite of the seasons. That is mainly because I detest hot weather.

It won’t be enough to just help your child understand the protests and rioting that followed the killing of George Floyd.

Since you have been spending so much time around the house doing all sorts of projects and organizing various aspects of your life, you may have decided you would like to do a larger home improvement project for your family’s enjoyment or perhaps in preparation to sell. 

Columnist’s note: A few years ago, I recorded some of my thoughts here about the evolution of my thinking on race and racism. As we once again grapple with that topic in this country, I’m re-running a portion of that piece. As recent events demonstrate, we still have much work to do. But I’m…