Affection delayed is not always affection denied.
He sounds old and his voice is tired. It’s been fifteen years since I’ve heard it, but it’s definitely him.
I am caught in that melodramatic made-for-television moment where I learn that my estranged father is dying of brain cancer and I have only – days? weeks? months? – to “set things right” between us.
I have to laugh. I’m a writer, and I never would have dreamed up such a trite, overdone scenario. But here I am, actually living it. It gets better: I get …

A compass points to “true north,” leaving “east, south, and west sort of out of the picture. Unless you know how compasses work, you don’t appreciate that a compass pointing to the north is also pointing us to a southern, eastern or western direction. In other words, “True north” for the compass is determined by the magnetic pull of the earth. It’s the only way the needle can point. But by pointing to the true (really the magnetic) north, travelers can determine which way they want to go – and …

(Becky Blanton shaking hands with Daniel Pink at the end of her talk at TED Global 2009)
Once the TED video was posted some of my friends commented about my having finally arrived or accomplished the ultimate. Others assume that that was the “happy ending” and I returned to an easy life and lots of accolades. I didn’t. Life has pretty much been the same. I do a few radio or book interviews, but mostly my life is the same.
I work. I look for work. I “stay hungry.” …

Thirty minutes ago I was panicked. After a $400 doctor’s visit, a few days in a campground and some unexpected expenses (like a couple of tanks of gas after getting lost in the Virginia countryside – at $55 a tank) I was down, literally, to about $8 until Friday. Not as bad as it has been in the past, and yes, there are millions worse off, but it made me nervous. I felt scared, worried (the gas gauge on the van doesn’t work. I have to estimate my mileage and …