by Helen Heavirland | Sep 30, 2016
Image courtesy of imagery majestic at FreeDigitalPhotos.net “I can’t get past the first chapter,” a frustrated writer confided. “I start, then go back and read it . . . and it stinks.” I’ve heard the lament repeatedly. And I’m delighted when I hear some of those...
by Helen Heavirland | Jul 19, 2015
Image courtesy of amenic181 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net I collapsed into a padded, fold-down auditorium seat. Could this concert help me relax for one brief evening? Could it rekindle a flicker of zest in my life? I felt insignificant, unappreciated. I’d poured...
by Helen Heavirland | Jul 3, 2015
“If a Thing’s Worth Doing . . .” “If a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing . . .” The voice on the radio paused. I could almost hear my mother’s voice finish the sentence, “. . . well.” The principle was so ingrained in my thinking that even the speaker’s expectant...
by Helen Heavirland | Mar 18, 2015
I expect my husband’s family reunion to be a day full of faces with names I can’t keep straight. I expect to take up tomorrow where I left off yesterday. But, then, one of the cousins plays an audio tape of a great-uncle telling old family stories. One of the...
by Helen Heavirland | Mar 18, 2015
Life was beautiful … until I turned eight. That summer my family moved from our home in the woods of Oregon’s Coastal Range where the evergreens and wildflowers grew naturally in lavish abundance. We moved to southeastern Washington where the desert was being divided...