Vitality Stories
Guess What I Found?
A happy ending
Can you believe it? A month after moving to Ithaca, New York, and sending multiple emails followed up by calls, I got the good news that the moving company had my missing-in-action, gigantic sectional sofa. Continue reading
Vitality Stories
It Helps To Have A Sense Of Humor
Laughter is the best policy
I’ve learned a few things about moving over the past four years. I know that anything can get lost during a move, even a four-piece gigantic sectional sofa, and I can tell you the worst part of moving isn’t packing and unpacking, it’s going to the DMV and getting a new driver’s license and vehicle registration. Continue reading
Vitality Stories
What Makes You Laugh?
When a writer goes to the pharmacy
Dear Friend,
This actually happened to me last week so I thought I’d share the experience with you.
If you have a funny story to share, let me know. I love to hear from you.
Happy laughing and as always, thanks for being you.
Teri
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Vitality Stories
What Makes You Laugh?
Look with your hands
Inspired by author and illustrator Lisa Sinicki’s latest project, I recently signed up for an online comic strip drawing course with Paris Christou at ToonBoxStudio*. Early on, Paris points out it helps to choose a comic concept by considering our own stories or experiences in ‘little strips of gags,’ or punchlines. This makes sense, right? It’s why Garfield, Dilbert, Calvin and Hobbes, and The Family Circus are popular; they are true to life, and therefore, relatable and funny.
So I started writing down all of the silly, short conversations in my own life that have stuck with me and make me giggle. Below is one of my favorites, and perhaps one day, I’ll adapt it as a comic: Continue reading
Vitality Stories
Growing in Tokyo – Day Two
Wake and walk
Steps taken: 20,865
The time difference between Seattle, Washington, and Tokyo, Japan, is 16 to 17 hours depending on daylight savings. Exercise seems to help us with jet lag, so after a good night’s rest, Ted and I strolled westward. Our destination was the world famous and busiest intersection in Tokyo—Shibuya Crossing.
Multiple subway lines and trains intersect underground and there is an endless flow of people onto the streets. Shibuya Crossing is also known as Shibuya Scramble. When the pedestrian light turns green, an average of 1,000 people swarm the intersection, scrambling and weaving towards one of the four corners. After forty-six seconds, most everyone has cooperated and reached their destination. And just like that, the traffic zooms by once more and by the time the walk sign flashes green again, there is another 1,000 people waiting to cross.
Vitality Stories
Growing In Tokyo – Day One
First Impression
Steps taken: 19,654
Not knowing much about Tokyo, we were hesitant to book traditional Japanese accommodations and instead opted for a western hotel between the Akasaka and Roppongi neighborhoods. As is typical when staying at a western-influenced hotel, our fellow lodgers were a mix of business travellers and tourists.
Ted and I are walkers. I wear a pedometer on our travels to track our daily adventure (and to figure out how much dessert I will eat) one step at a time. We have struck a fashion sense inclined towards practicality and comfort, avoiding aching feet and backs without feeling underdressed, or barring ourselves entrance to nice restaurants or establishments due to tennis shoes, t-shirts and jeans. Our packing philosophy has always worked—until Tokyo. Continue reading
Vitality Stories
Thanks For Your Influence In Tokyo
Really?
In October I went to Tokyo for the first time. When I told people I was going, the responses ranged from wide eyes to frowns, all followed by, “Really?” Continue reading
Vitality Stories
an interview with
Artist Michael Michaud
MIchael Michaud, photo provided by Michael Michaud Jewelry
The Reason
To learn from someone else, we need only to ask them about their experiences, and that’s the purpose of the Vitality Stories Interviews. I’m not writing the memoirs for artist, Michael Michaud, but I discovered his work while I was on a four-month road trip and, unbeknownst to him, he inspired me to change. Continue reading
Vitality Stories
Leona Beck
The Best Way To Meet Your Parents
Sometimes it takes two
If you really want to get to know your parents, or a loved one, write their memoirs.
My mom, Bonnie, and I wrote her memoirs and the experience changed the way I think about her as a person. Before Memoirs (BM) she was my imperfect mother. But today, I think of her as a woman who was navigating her way through life, in a different era, making choices that resulted in pride, laughter, tears, or regret. I catch myself comparing my life at forty-four years old to what she was doing when she was forty-four, and every single time I think, whew, I’m so glad I’m not in those shoes. (If I was, I would have eight kids with a ninth on the way, a troubled marriage, a pile of bills, and I’d be struggling with undiagnosed bipolar disorder.) I also learned to accept that her perception is her reality and this makes me more patient when our collective memories or experiences don’t add up.
What I’m trying to say is writing your parent’s memoirs might be one of the best gifts you’ll ever give to yourself. It will be a different gift for each person. In my case, it was forgiveness.
But where to start? How to start? There are many books available on how to write memoirs. I’m sure my process will continue to improve, but for those of you who are thinking about this worthwhile project, here are the steps I take with each of my clients. Continue reading
Vitality Stories
photo by Gretchen LeMay Photography
How To Pay Off Debt With Heart
Sometimes it takes a village
In Tiger Drive, Carrie Sloan is seventeen and knows college is her only way out of her neighborhood and away from her toxic parents and absent, older siblings. She is conflicted about leaving her two little brothers behind, but believes breaking free from the family mold is the best thing she can do for them. But even without the family’s secrets and choices complicating her every move, Carrie won’t be able to pursue her education without financial aid and she is determined to write a winning scholarship essay.
While Tiger Drive is fiction, I can relate to Carrie and the obstacles she faces and I drew from personal feelings to write her. At seventeen, I was a senior in high school and supporting myself with two jobs after school and on the weekends. If not for a Pell Grant and a generous Continue reading