Stories & Blogs
Roy’s Sunday Letter for February 2, 2025
BEING A SENIOR IN 2025 AMERICA I recently completed a story of seniors having lunch at separate tables at Mary’s Grill. Tables were needed to serve waiting families, friends, and office workers. The seniors order lunch Specials and leave small, if any tips. Since Mary’s is a friendly place, for several seniors it is not…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for January 26, 2025
Friends and friendship join Joy, Kindness, and Peaceful Living on life’s wheel. As I talk with and meet people or on a social platform, I listen to the challenges of making new friends, going deeper with a current friendship, or losing friends through aging, health, or relocation. There is a touch of spirits unique to…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for January 19, 2025
I began, we began, seeing video of the Pacific Palisades hillside fire and the push of Santa Ana winds on January 7. Today, 12,000 homes have burned with thousands displaced and at-risk for dreams, hopes, and memories to be lost somewhere in the sudden need to flee. Some with a “Go Bag,” others only a…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for January 12, 2025
INSIGHT ON WRITING PRAYERS AND THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY Prayers and Other Notes: There are two mentors I consider personal heroes. The first, my grandfather, who left his east Texas tractor each Friday afternoon then entering a small hut on the side of the barn. He would use two stiff fingers from repairing too many…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for January 5, 2025
Thoughts on Mentors and Mentoring Most of us, whatever age, gender, and background, have become who we are through family, education, and life experiences. In addition, many of us have received guidance and support from one or more mentors. And now, perhaps from our own experiences and elderhood, we can provide the “pay it forward”…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for December 29, 2024
Reflections – Calendars & Seasons of the Year Most of us look at our calendars often, whether iPad, laptop, watch, or one of the traditional paper calendars. Calendars add details to our comings and goings of dates, times, events, and people. My paper calendar helps my elder memory with notes of birthdays, phone numbers, anniversaries…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for December 22, 2024
REFLECTIONS – CHRISTMAS 2024 Most of us live days somewhere between the inspiring restoration of the Norte Dame Cathedral and the heritage story of the birth of a child, a humble manger in a faraway village, pilgrim parents, and travel weary shepherds. In the midst of the annual seasonal blur, we each have an opportunity…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for December 15, 2024
** The numbers and the reasons for the decline in church attendance are well documented. Although the percentage of Americans who have de-churched has grown, the desire of the American public to find and experience a church like community has also grown. These new assemblies and communities tend to be cause centered, with a focus…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for December 8, 2024
** In Paris, Norte Dame has been fully restored from a destructive fire five years ago. Artists and craft persons used historic and new materials throughout the restoration. The language changed from artist/craft persons to Companions, expressing the ownership felt by all committed to returning Norte Dame to France and the world with awe and…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for December 1, 2024
The arrival of Thanksgiving and the coming Christmas season brings the mix of memories, some warm and life-giving, others more difficult. A seasonal truth, for me, would be that both seasons are best experienced and enjoyed in the company of family and friends. Receptions, open houses and dinners are opportunities to tell and listen to…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for February 19, 2023
** Most of us know the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl. What you may not have noticed is the back of their helmets. Many players have messages of hope. Several I noticed are: Inspire Stop Hate Together Seek Love Imagine Unity ** From my current morning Fiction: “Give me coffee to change the…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for February 12, 2023
** I recently had the opportunity to talk with two nonprofit Exec. Directors, one in-person in Amarillo and one by cell in Santa Fe. We three are always interested in the best, most effective way to lead an agency or direct a program. Our question as we talked was about our leadership style when: 1)…
ROY’S SUNDAY LETTER FOR FEBRUARY 5, 2023
It is now Saturday evening, and we are home from a week in Amarillo. Beth and I left FW on Monday morning 9:30 just before sleet and freezing rain shut down Dallas/Ft Worth and then moved down to Austin. We drove through sleet and frozen rain for 3.5 hours before clearer roads and weather on…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for January 29, 2023
** Beth and I will be in Amarillo this week. Beth and Tricia (her LPC partner) began The Hope & Healing Place, A Grief & Loss Center for Children and Families. The HHP board and staff are recognizing 20 years of the HHP mission and services with grieving families. 20 years doesn’t seem possible…Hope &…
The What, Why, And How Of Work, 2023
My grandfather’s faded red tractor of many a plowed field and harvested crop was his office. From here he watched rain clouds, dipped snuff, and conducted the daily business of a dry land east Texas farmer. Walls, glass, door or no door offices grew from the 1960’s onward. Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford showed us…
Am I Old….Really?
We live on a block and in a neighborhood of younger individuals and families, different than our 78 and 73. We speak and wave in driveways or dog walking, as we come and go in our daily lives. I often want to ask one of the younger ones to join me on front porch or…
Searching For Stability
Turning away from the upheaval of politics, market reports, wars and societal chaos, I thought Weather might be a safe place to find stability, maybe even a little consistency. Fort Worth was in the OK 90’s until early June. Then, we went from 95 to 113 and stayed until last weeks. No rain from June…
A Blog For Tim
The decision to choose a partner is different than a consultant. I recently faced this challenge. I had published a book, a printed collection of 32 of my short stories. A writer’s web site was needed to promote the book and provide a platform for book sales. After several false starts I had the opportunity…
I Am More Than A Memory
As an elder of years, and as an Executive Director type since 1970, I have more than a few wonderful memories. Two are special, forever memories. In 1995, as ED at Family Support Services in Amarillo, my revenue budget told me I needed a new fundraiser. About 6 of us gathered in the board room…
Do You Buildup or Tear Down
When children play with wood or plastic blocks, one child may choose to use blocks to build a house, a street, or even a bridge. Another child may not like what the first child is building, showing the positive way blocks can be used, even in the play of as child The second child may…