My husband’s legs are long, and mine are not. When we hike together it doesn’t take a lot of time for him to be ahead and for me to take up the rear. Usually, this isn’t a problem but today we were hiking an unfamiliar trail in Death Valley. I was wearing a hat with a big brim that flopped over my eyes, focused more on my feet than the horizon, and he got way far out ahead of me before I noticed. I started to worry. I’m prone to worry and one of the reasons I’ve embraced mindfulness practices in such a big way is because they have helped me manage my anxiety. Today, I was worried that he had gotten too far ahead of me this time. There were plenty of twists and turns, we each had a cell phone but no cell service, and it wasn’t too hard to imagine that we could lose each other.
I’ve learned that worrying in these situations doesn’t do any good so I defaulted to my standard alternative. I started to give thanks.
It's easy to feel helpless against assault weapons with hundreds of rounds of bullets packed into their clips and ready to go.
It's easy to feel as if one voice - your voice, my voice - could never be heard above the shrill national discourse on the subject of gun control.
But one voice, especially a parent's voice, can make a difference if he or she is willing to ask other parents a few basic questions about guns in their homes.
