I have one of my father's uniforms framed in a shadow box, along with the flag that was presented to me by the military guard who officiated at his burial service at Arlington National Cemetery. It acts as a reminder of his service, his sacrifice, and his steadfast devotion to our democracy.

To all the women and men who have served in the armed forces, I offer you my gratitude and admiration.

"I do not care whether you're a Democrat or you're a Republican or an independent. We must pull for the people who are wearing the uniform of the armed forces" - Tommy Lasorda

The Great Wall of China was originally designed for the purposes that most border walls are; protection from invasion, immigration/emigration control, and taxation of goods.

As a kid, I never thought much about the Great Wall. But when Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit the PRC in 1972, my curiosity was piqued. "Someday," I thought. "Someday."

It would take 47 years before I would follow President Nixon's lead and travel to China. In these uncertain times, nurture all of your "someday" dreams. Time disappears faster than anything else.

"There are seven days in a week and someday isn't one of them."

During Friday's professional development day I attended the mindfulness training; a combination of reflection, meditation exercises, and a reimagining of daily practices.

At the end, the facilitator read aloud the poem "She Let Go" by Safire Rose. Something about it struck me so forcefully I have included it below, in its entirety.

I guess sometimes the daily "byte" is less like a snack and more like a Thanksgiving meal......

She let go.

She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go.

She let go of the fear.

She let go of the judgments.

She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head.

She let go of the committee of indecision within her.

She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons.

Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, she just let go.

She didn’t ask anyone for advice.

She didn’t read a book on how to let go.

She didn’t search the scriptures.

She just let go.

She let go of all of the memories that held her back.

She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward.

She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right.

She didn’t promise to let go.

She didn’t journal about it.

She didn’t write the projected date in her Day-Timer.

She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper.

She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope.

She just let go.

She didn’t analyze whether she should let go.

She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter.

She didn’t do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment.

She didn’t call the prayer line.

She didn’t utter one word.

She just let go.

No one was around when it happened.

There was no applause or congratulations.

No one thanked her or praised her.

No one noticed a thing.

Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.

There was no effort.

There was no struggle.

It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad.

It was what it was, and it is just that.

In the space of letting go, she let it all be.

A small smile came over her face.

A light breeze blew through her.

And the sun and the moon shone forevermore…

Election night has come and gone and still we don't have an answer.

Most of the pundits expected as much. And yet I assumed when the sun rose this morning the path forward would be clearer.

That's the thing about life. The sun rises. The sun sets. But uncertainty still lingers.

And so this morning I turn to former Texan congresswoman Barbara Jordan for some wisdom. No matter what the outcome, the sun will rise and the sun will set. Our only choice is what we do in between.

"For all of its uncertainty, we cannot flee the future." - Barbara Jordan

Today, in the Christian calendar, is All Souls Day.

Not to be confused with yesterday's observance of All Saints Day, a time to celebrate those who have lived such exemplary lives as to warrant beatification, All Souls Day is a collective moment of grief and remembrance for those who are no longer.

One of the things I've noticed since becoming a minister is how very uncomfortable most of us are with death. So much so that after someone dies we often stop talking about them, for fear this reminder will pull at the tentative bandage that covers the wound. Out of a misdirected sense of kindness, we hold our tongues. And in doing so, leave the bereft to suffer alone.

The memories of those who have died are given life by us. So speak the names of those you have lost. Celebrate their lives. Appreciate how you have been changed by them.

And as we move forward, vow to live your life in such a way that those who will remember you will do so with both admiration and fondness.

“Death ends a life, not a relationship.” - Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie

In honor of the last day of the first quarter, today's byte will celebrate ..... the quarter!

After the founding of the U.S. Mint in 1792, the first quarter was struck in 1796. The coin we are all familiar with, the "Washington Quarter," came into existence in 1932. It features a left-facing bust of President George Washington on the front and and an eagle with wings spread on the back.

From 1999-2008, the 50-state series of quarters was released, issuing coins in the order in which they ratified the Constitution or were admitted into the Union. In 2010 the "America the Beautiful" series begun, featuring our national parks and historic places.

The latest iteration began in 2019, the first to be struck at the West Point Mint. They feature a "W" mintage mark and are only available in circulation. Check your pockets!

"Take a coin from your purse and invest it in your mind. It will come pouring out of your mind and overflow your purse." - Benjamin Franklin

From the beaches of South Boston, I can look across the harbor and see the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. I have made the pilgrimage to ten of the fourteen. Hoover, Truman, Eisenhower, and Obama's libraries remain on my bucket list.

These collections tell the story of great and flawed men, molded by the times in which they served. Each remind me of my obligation to do the same.

"My country owes me no debt. It gave me, as it gives every boy and girl, a chance. It gave me schooling, independence of action, opportunity for service and honor. In no other land could a boy from a country village, without inheritance or influential friends, look forward with unbounded hope."

- Herbert Hoover

We have yet to turn the clocks back. A steady rain is falling. Today's darkness feels like a blanket I can't quite shake off.

I fret about the upcoming election. Our "new normal" feels neither new nor normal. And then I remember I need to befriend the darkness, not avoid it. The gifts of darkness are just harder to see....

"I have learned things in the dark that I could never have learned in the light, things that have saved my life over and over again, so that there is really only one logical conclusion. I need darkness as much as I need light." - Barbara Brown Taylor, Learning to Walk in the Dark

My grandmother loved hats. Hats and gloves. 

My mother used to say hats and gloves were the shopping purview of plump women. Be that as it may, there was no denying my grandmother's fondness for millinery.

On the day she died she took a train into Boston and found herself a hat she just couldn't resist. The shopkeeper wrapped her prize in tissue paper before placing it in a sturdy hatbox. She returned home later that afternoon and placed the hatbox on her dresser before lying down for a nap. As she closed her eyes she glanced one more time at her new hat. It was the last thing she saw.

I hope I too will see something I love just before my death. But in the meantime, I'm just trying to live up to my hat......

“I recommend the French beret, for it gives the impression of just the right soft toughness, a veritable wave of sophisticated brain matter. It is the kind of hat that inspires a person to grow into it, to become the person they never knew they could be.” 

― Meia Geddes, Love Letters to the World

As a person of faith, I have always been confused by the stance that to be a believer negates one's ability to be a proponent of science.

There will always be mystery. But does that mean we should stop wondering?

Who would set a limit to the mind of man? Who would dare assert that we know all there is to be known? - Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (1564-1642)

In case you're wondering, I'm the one person on God's green earth who has not yet seen Brené Brown’s TEDx talk.

That said, last night I stumbled across a documentary in which she reveals, among other things, the inspiration for her first book, Daring Greatly.

Spoken during a speech in 1910, Theodore Roosevelt urged the crowd gathered before him to focus their energies not on the naysayers and critics, but on the bravery it takes to get in the game.

All hail to those who, "at the worst ... at least fails while daring greatly."

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.” - Theodore Roosevelt (1858 - 1919)

Best known for Jake, their optimistic stick-figure mascot, Life is Good founders Bert and John Jacobs (pictured above) grew up in my hometown. They hail from a large raucous family who, after gathering nightly at the dinner table, would be asked by their mother, "tell me something good that happened today."

Yes, we all have work to do. Yes, we are all spinning far too many plates. But perhaps, more than ever these days, we need to keep an eye out for the fun.

“Having fun at work is not a diversion from productivity. In fact, it’s an essential ingredient to staying loose, open, creative, and solution-oriented. Fun makes for easy lifting. You can have strong ideas, great products, and a brilliant team—but fun is the grease on the chain that keeps the whole bike rolling.” 

― Bert Jacobs, Life is Good: The Book 

I come from a long line of pumpkin carvers.

While I was never enamored with the spooky, ghoulish feel of Halloween, my family considered Jack O' Lantern creation a high art. Originally a tradition begun in Ireland, these days carved pumpkins just as often display goofy faces as they do scary ones. Even so, I feel out of step when it comes to Halloween, a fraidy cat caught in a haunted house.

While I cover my eyes, thoughts of spider webs, slasher movies, and vampire fangs still swirl in my head. November can't come fast enough.

"Where there is no imagination, there is no horror." - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

This past week I had a chance to watch the talented Renée Zellweger portray Judy Garland, a role that won her the Academy Award.

So much talent. So much promise. So much sadness.

Of the many wonderful moments Judy offers us in her seminal performance in The Wizard of Oz, perhaps it is her sidekick, the Tin Man, who speaks the film's most poignant line.......

"I shall take the heart. For brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world." – Tin Man, The Wizard of Oz

Yesterday, for the first time this year, we lit the fire in the fireplace.

Time to dig out the plastic pumpkin pails, find the extra blankets, and stockpile a few extra cans of soup in the cupboard. It’s what cold weather folks do. It’s tradition.

I have long been leery of tradition, worried I would become trapped by the expectation to mimic whatever came before.

But as the heat wafted toward me from the fire’s flames, I felt only comfort. A sign, perhaps, of a change of heart.

“Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.” - Gustav Mahler

The first time I remember seeing Harvey Fierstein was as the indomitable Edna Turnblad in the Broadway production of Hairspray. The moment I heard that scratchy husky voice, I fell in love.

National Coming Out Day (October 11th) is a celebration of identity and love in all of its various forms, shared on your own terms and in your own time.

"Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself." —Harvey Fierstein

I remember it like it was yesterday. Judy Shepard sitting in my office, her long eyelashes coated with a sheen of mascara and tears. Her eyes cast downward.

She was shy, painfully so. And yet she was traveling across the country to tell the story of her beloved son Matthew, beaten and left to die, tied to a fence in Laramie, WY. 

His body was discovered twenty-two years ago today, now dead longer than he was alive. I remember it like it was yesterday.....

“As a young person, I feel it necessary to show the great nation that we live in that there doesn't need to be this kind of violence and hatred in our world. And that loving one another doesn't mean that we have to compromise our beliefs; it simply means that we choose to be compassionate and respectful of others.” 

― Judy Shepard, The Meaning of Matthew: My Son's Murder in Laramie and a World Transformed