I never thought I would be so anxious about a cat. The last few days, coming in and out of the veterinarian office has been a bit taxing. Now, Nadya is home, and I know she’s happy to be here.

When I adopted Nadya from the humane society in Silver City, she was about a year old. I first saw her in a room full of other cats that had been waiting to be taken in by a loving family, or maybe just a single guy in his thirties, for months. …

A lot of people have said goodbye to old friends in the last year. Fortunately, many new friends have also been made.

I met a guy named Sean who works at a homeless shelter in Sierra Vista, Arizona. I see him there during the evening hours when the residents line up in the kitchen to eat. When I have the blessing of helping out during my monthly volunteer cooking, he’s always there to talk about the latest happenings in life.

Sean is from the Midwest. He’s far away from home, and I’m not sure how he ended up in the…

It’s that time of the year that we traditionally think about new beginnings. Kids are back in school. Bus drivers have returned to their old routes. Moms are packing lunches. Sports teams are on the field for morning practice.

Maybe the beginnings aren’t so new. Maybe we are going back to what we always have known. Going back to the things that make us feel like us.

This past Friday I drove out to the tiny town of Elfrida, Arizona to watch a football game. Less than 500 residents live in this middle-of-nowhere farming community but what they lack in…

I’ve been thinking lately on why it’s so easy to get fixated on the bad side of people rather than the good. We all have a bit of both sides in all of us. Maybe it’s because it makes it easy for us to find a reason to say no, goodbye, or never mind. Maybe it’s because it makes us feel better about ourselves. If they are bad, we are good.

We do it in schools. Once a student gets in trouble, he’s marked for life. “That’s the boy that got in a fight,” the teacher says. …

As digital advancements continue to transform society at seemingly lightning speeds, I often wonder what we are losing when we have less to see, touch, feel, and stumble upon.

There is something to be said about picking up a lucky penny. An ordinary day walking down the familiar streets of your neighborhood could transform into a day of good happenings when you pick up a penny on its head-facing side. It’s a shame if we reach a time when we can’t pick up a penny for good luck.

Other coin-based activities have already been lost to history, like sticking your…

I like meeting people that tell me who they are by what they choose to wear. Not just the style of shirt or jeans they put on each day, but also the extra things they carry because they mean something to them.

Flannel shirts and cargo pants were a daily choice for a former co-worker of mine. Each time I saw him, he seemed to have the same outfit on. As time passed, I appreciated the simplicity of his everyday decision-making. …

In Deming, New Mexico, a small town surrounded by a large open desert on one side and an interstate on the other, there is a tradition that most people might think is a little hard to believe. It happens each year in late summer, and it’s called the Great American Duck Race.

If you are there to see it with your own eyes, you would agree that it is great, uniquely American, and well, something to quack about. Like any other traditional festivals, the Duck Race has food vendors, family games, and a parade. …

I really like those hole-in-the-wall restaurants that claim to have “world famous” food items. They are usually located in tiny towns, somewhere in the middle of nowhere USA. When you get there, you drive down Main Street and you turn right at the light. If you go past the old First Baptist Church you went too far.

A little ways down, where the road gets a little bumpy and the only other business you see is a general store looking kind of place, is where you will find an eatery with a world famous food item.

They are often named…