Another year has passed and 2026 is now here. All the messiness of the past year is replaced by the hope the new year brings. After I reviewed my 2025 goals, I was struck by how few I completed. I am goal-driven and normally, my goals would be dutifully checked off. Yet, last year I rarely glanced …
German Christmas Markets
Last week, my wife and I flew to Frankfurt and spent a week at the German Christmas markets (Christkindlmarket orWeihnachtsmarkt). Our Ft. Worth traveling friends joined us in this adventure. It has been ten years since our last visit and we were not disappointed. We rented a car and after stopping …
Tetherball
When I was in elementary school, I loved recess. No matter how dreadful the weather was outside, I looked forward to playing with my friends. We climbed the monkey bars, chased each other, jumped hopscotch, and shot basketballs. But what I really looked forward to was playing tetherball. I raced …
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. While commercialism tries to infiltrate it, it remains a day of the four F’s: Feasting, Family, Friends, and Faith. I placed the feasting first because food is the central theme for the gathering of family and friends. The kitchen aromas infuse Thanksgiving Day: …
Books
I don’t use social media, although it is a popular way to quickly communicate to the masses. Sadly, there are individuals who disrespectfully write on social media that most people would never say directly. Acclaimed author Joyce Carol Oates (born 1938), the Princeton University Roger S. Berlind ’52 …
Health(y)
Last week, I went to see my physician for my annual physical. For me, this is usually a non-event; my physician spends five minutes doing a physical exam, then quickly goes over my blood work and medications. She crams physicals into her normal busy day and must hurry due to her many patients. I …
Prayer
Until I was working full-time, I did not pray. Perhaps I should clarify this as I did go to church and sit quietly when prayers were being said. My family said a prayer before eating dinner together. If asked to say the blessing over a meal, I would recite: “God is great and God is good. And we …
Liberal Arts
The adjective “liberal” was derived from the 12th century Old French liberal (befitting free people, noble, generous, willing, zealous) and directly from the Latin liberalis (noble, generous, willing, zealous — literally “of freedom, pertaining to or benefiting a free person”) and liber (free, …
Impossible Jobs
I am reading one of Tom Holland’s books: Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World (Basic Books, New York, 2019, pages 381–386). Holland is a British historian of the ancient world, fluent in both Latin and Greek. My first introduction to his writings was his 2015 translation from the …
A Celebration of Life
Two weeks ago, my wife and I were driving south through Washington, Oregon, and California to attend a memorial service for my Aunt Marian who died at the age of 97. She was a much-loved matriarch of the Snodgrass family, the older sister of my father and his brother, Ross. They grew up in …