Stephanie Esworthy

73 days ago - In my kitchen, gazing at steep staircases, I wondered whether it was worth the Mount Everest-like climb, listening to my snapping, popping kneecaps, to retrieve eyeglasses I had forgotten upstairs. Unlike Sir Edmund Hillary, I decided it was time to stop climbing and make a last move.

356 days ago - Friends working in a presidential campaign recently asked me, “Is calling an illegal alien an ‘undocumented immigrant’ like calling a drug dealer an ‘unlicensed pharmacist?’ ” These public relations professionals manage thought through words.

364 days ago - Where is Rodney Dangerfield when you need an advocate? We “don’t get no respect” as we’re stung by the slings and arrows of outrageous big business.

483 days ago - "There is beauty in the bellow of the blast, there is grandeur in the growling of the gale.” W. S. Gilbert’s romantic depiction takes me back to Ocean City, Maryland’s close encounter with a killer hurricane. Born in Africa’s waters Aug. 29, 1960, the disturbance quickly organized into Category 5 Hurricane “Donna.” On Sept. 9, Donna swiped the Florida Keys at Category 4, made landfall at Fort Myers, then plowed east across Florida to Daytona Beach. Thirteen people died.

500 days ago - "There’s an old saying in Washington, that in dealing with any tough issue, half the politicians hope that citizens don’t understand it while the other half fear that people actually do.” Former Senator Fred Thompson spoke bluntly on May 18th, urging Congress and the White House to scrap the hastily cobbled immigration bill, the contents of which may not be made public until after passage, and secure the borders first.

546 days ago - I ncapable of betrayal, our animal companions accept us as we are, warts and all. They give us unconditional devotion. In return we want to be worthy of their fidelity.

565 days ago - Spring training is in full swing. To predict the season would be foolish.

594 days ago - We snoozed our way through dreary mandatory Monday night meetings where, as college freshmen, the sweet but seemingly naive Dean of Women forced us to listen to her lecture on only one topic. Sister Angela Marie, SSND, insisted a woman’s whole purpose in life was to achieve her own unique “Divinely Human Womanhood.” It was a phrase she coined. We suppressed snickers and later mimicked her dramatic glance heavenward as she warned of what could happen to women who lost themselves trying to find it.

602 days ago - T homas Wolfe tells us “You Can’t Go Home Again” and parents of grown children should be grateful for this. But in the post-holiday silence of a gray winter’s morning, I am nostalgic.

635 days ago - Crusty comedian George Carlin said that when you acquire a puppy or kitten, you set the stage for personal tragedy in about 14 years. Though we may pause to consider this discomforting thought, it never stopped Carlin, who lovingly featured his dog, Moe, and cat, Murphy, or the rest of us from buying or adopting.

693 days ago - In a moment of clarity, I realized that while we dream and wait expectantly for the few exciting moments in our lives, regular life is an austere Trappist Monk who doles out a burlap framed list of family and job responsibilities each day.