by David Anderson
The day after. It so depends upon the day before. The wedding was bliss. My daughter Sharon was beautiful, smiling radiantly throughout the ceremony, and my new son Anthony was strikingly handsome in his navy suit and light blue tie. The bridesmaids and the groomsmen were all in a row, childhood friends and college buds […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Change, Family, Happiness, Letting Go
Christmas will come tomorrow. This Advent we have been watching and waiting for a wedding. My younger daughter Sharon is to marry Anthony Damelio at 4 o’clock tomorrow. Sharon always wanted a “Christmas wedding.” She loved the season, and she adored the church, festooned each year with pungent evergreen garlands and red poinsettias. To her […]
by David Anderson 12 Comments Filed Under: Family, Gratitude, Happiness, Love
Dear Janet, Good to get your email, though of course I’m sorry that this is a rough time for you. Having to cut off a relationship that held such promise but that ended up being destructive—that’s hard to do. People like Craig are hard to cut off, right? They’re so charming. They promise so much, […]
by David Anderson Leave a Comment Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Change, Faithfulness, Happiness, Love
Today is for shopping. What do you want? Retailers this year are pushing a lot of “Merry Christmas to Myself.” Despite the obvious narcissism in that phrase, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s all right to know what you want and to get it. I know scores and hundreds of people (unfortunately) who are […]
by David Anderson 3 Comments Filed Under: Happiness
Thanksgiving is always about bounty, cornucopia, an overflowing with excess. Yet many of us are not feeling cornucopian these days. The bounty isn’t exactly flowing. Excess seems only to be the measure of our debt. We’re not feeling the Thanksgiving. In the gospels Jesus tells us, “Do not worry about your life, what you will […]
by David Anderson 12 Comments Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Gratitude, Happiness, Letting Go
The most transforming costume I ever wore was not on Halloween. I auditioned and was chosen to play the “Father” in a neighborhood production of “Hansel and Gretel.” After dying my blonde hair brown, they painted enormous mutton-chops on my cheeks and gave me a thick brown mustache. I looked in the mirror and saw […]
by David Anderson 11 Comments Filed Under: Change, Happiness, Now/ the Present
We live by lists. I’ve got lists on my Blackberry calendar. I’ve got little pieces of paper in my shirt pocket that say, “Call Dr.” and “Stop paper/mail” and “Dan.” When I get to work my wonderful, life-saving admin kindly forces me to clean up the clutter on my desk. Then Judy types up a nice […]
by David Anderson 9 Comments Filed Under: Happiness, Nature/Creation, Now/ the Present
“There’s only one thing worse than not getting what you want—getting it.” We’ve all seen it happen. The woman who angles for the top job, gets it, but the toll it takes wipes out her happiness. The man who leaves his wife and family for the “perfect” new woman, only to wake the next morning […]
by David Anderson 9 Comments Filed Under: Happiness, Surrender