Stories (74)
Filter by community
Making a Fool of Myself this New Year
I know I am an okay singer. I often don't hit the high notes right and I take breaths in awkward spots. I need someone who sings on tune next to me to be on tune in a choir. And I lose my note when my husband starts singing in his bass voice. I just sing whatever comes to mind and hum words I don't know--mostly chorus lines. I sang in different school and church choirs while I was a teen and young adult. I always sang "My Favorite Things" when I tried out for musicals. I didn't quite have it memorized.
By Eileen Davis26 days ago in Motivation
Shadow at the Gate
On my way home from middle school, I spot what might be a possible shortcut to my home. Checking both ways, I cross to the other side of the street and kick the gravel where a sidewalk should be. A canal runs through a field and under the train tracks. Maybe I can go under the train tracks through the canal. That can save me a mile of walking five days a week, technically 180 days a year. That potential shortcut is worth exploring for one day.
By Eileen Davis3 months ago in Critique
The Necessary Pain and Adjustment during Government Downsizing
My husband lost his software job twice during Biden's term, so I have sympathy for those losing their government jobs. It is rough. You may have to move. You may have to beg for money from your relatives. You may have to take out more credit card debt and hope you find a job before the next payment is due. You may have to wait for more than a month for unemployment because the government bureaucracy is slow. (Or because you applied too early. Or you forgot to include a signature or a document.)
By Eileen Davis12 months ago in The Swamp
My First Caucus
This year the Utah Republican Party decided to do a presidential poll at their caucus meetings instead of a primary ballot. Personally, my husband and I were disappointed because it means fewer people would vote due to difficulties to attend a caucus meeting. We've always had children too young to care for themselves, so we rarely made it to any political functions.
By Eileen Davis2 years ago in The Swamp
My Thoughts on the US Presidential Primaries
Why have the Democrats kept Joe Biden as their candidate? It isn't about his age, but his cognitive ability. We know he is suffering from dementia and shouldn't be there, despite his clean health report minus a cognitive test (hmm?). It is unkind not to retire Joe Biden when he is not fully functioning. Instead we have a President, who many suspected from the beginning, didn't have enough cognitive power to reason through complex political matters. Voters let themselves believe he was the "centrist" and "civil" candidate. (Very few "loved" Biden or Trump; most votes were anti-votes.) Biden's inability to preside has led to out-of-control federal budgets, economic hardship, the border crisis, the deadly evacuation in Afghanistan, and emboldening authoritarian governments and terrorists. Have I missed anything?
By Eileen Davis2 years ago in The Swamp
Joy in the Annoyingly Ordinary
In November 2021, I watched Brene Brown’s Netflix special "A Call to Courage" and one story impressed upon my mind: Two parents expressed they missed hearing their late son slam the back door. They were grateful for that ordinary yet annoying act. So much so, the parents sometimes slammed the door repeatedly just to remember their son.
By Eileen Davis2 years ago in Families
