Kelly Learns
A compilation of my columns from the Sunday issues of the Daily Courier, Prescott, Arizona.
I’ve been writing an every-other Sunday column for the Daily Courier in Prescott, AZ since late 2020, thanks to the kind encouragement of long-time columnist Ron Barnes, who spent over 30 years contributing his wisdom not only to the newspaper but to many other people and organizations in the Prescott area. He put in some good words to the publisher and editor for me when he decided to retire from column writing. It’s one of those gifts you never knew you wanted and then realize how grateful you are to have it.
The Daily Courier has exclusive rights to my column for 60 days after publication, which is why you might be reading a Christmas column in February. I love writing but seem to need a project and deadline to do it. Hopefully this blog will inspire me to write more. Thanks for stopping by to check out my site!
Worth The Trip
I will confess that by the time I emailed my previous column about my upcoming 40th high school reunion, I was ready to buy the ticket. Writing down the reasons why I might or might not go made me realize how curious I was to see who showed up, and what it would be like to see faces I hadn’t seen in four decades. I appreciated the emails I received from some of you who read the column and took the time to encourage or, in one case, discourage me from going. I sent a rough draft of my column to a couple of friends up north (the two who refused to go), and while they said they enjoyed reading it, it didn’t change their minds. But they did agree to a brunch debriefing the next day, to see the photos and catch up on any good stories they’d missed by skipping it. Minnesota in early June...
Class of ’85
It’s been 40 years this month since I graduated from high school. I don’t remember a lot about the big day, other than wearing a sweaty polyester gown over a nice dress I bought for the occasion. We lined up by height, so I was one of the last ones to walk across the...
Losing the sparkle
I didn’t notice it was missing right away. When you wear a wedding ring for 28 years, you take it for granted it’s always on your finger. Much like the invisible glasses I push up my nose out of habit, my thumb automatically twirls the stone back to the outside of my...
What time is it?
One of the joys of living in Prescott, Arizona, is not needing to remember the phrase “spring forward, fall back.” Twice a year, while we are enjoying our morning coffee and showing up to church on time, people all over the country are arriving too early or too late...
How do you say…?
I saw something on the Internet the other day that a study found it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at new skill. After some quick math, that’s 27 years if you practiced your new skill for just an hour a day, which might explain why my childhood piano lessons...
Wonderful
I’m a fan of funerals. I know that sounds weird, but I was reminded while attending fellow Noon Lion and longtime Daily Courier columnist Jerry Jackson’s service last weekend how much you can learn about the someone’s life by showing up to one. Seems a lot of folks...
Aging gracelessly
When we heard a scraping noise followed by a loud hissing sound as we backed down the driveway Sunday afternoon, I knew before Mike stopped the car that it was bad. I was hoping maybe the tire had hit one of the many sharp rocks that line the triangular wedge of land...
Kindfulness
I was poking through a local store with my niece and her boyfriend a couple weekends ago while they were visiting between Christmas and New Year’s. They got into a lively debate over the relative merits of the Squishmallow collection on the shelves nearby. “They’re...
Memory card
Time has a strange way of moving. Logically, I know there is the same number of minutes, hours, days and months each year, but sometimes a block of time or an event goes by so quickly and other days drag on. I was thinking about this as I downloaded over 1,600 photos...
Special Delivery
The Christmas cards are starting to trickle into our mailbox. I love to open them up and look at the photos of friends and family, but they also serve as a guilty reminder that I am terrible at sending our cards out on time, if at all. In early November I give myself...
Deep Freeze
I was cleaning out our basement freezer to see if I could make room for leftovers when I pulled out a bag from the bottom that said “Turkey 11/25.” I’m guessing these are not leftovers sent to us by the Ghost of Thanksgiving Future, but my Sharpie scribble didn’t give...
Living history
A few weeks ago, I was helping take photos of veterans at a local senior living facility. As part of the project, we asked the residents to bring photos of themselves from their time in the military so we could use them alongside the current photos. I scanned the old...