Writings by Diane

I heard the Gilbert O’Sullivan’s song Alone Again Naturally many times growing up. The structure of the song is deceivingly interesting. The song lures you with the singer’s unusual voice; its simple melody has a sing-song quality that makes it easy to hum after hearing it for the first time. Though I’m familiar with the song, it is definitely not one of my personal favorites. It’s a song that I consider to be very depressing, though every time I heard it was at the tail end of the song.   I wondered why its focus was on his parents dying.     A few years later, I heard this song again and it was at the very beginning. At this time, I was pregnant with my son and my husband was driving us to a lunch meeting with another couple. I decided to listen to this song all the way through, and turned up the volume. This was a big mistake when I clearly heard the first refrain. It involves the singer being rejected by his intended bride at their wedding and his matter of fact que...

When my son was 3 years old, he was learning his ABC’s.   To keep these lessons from getting boring, (honestly, how many times can you say A is for apple without stifling a yawn?)I used real life examples in my teachings. Any time I found printed words, I would point out the letters to him and he would identify them.   I wanted to let my son know that letters are everywhere, not just confined to his picture books. One day, during his bath time, I found another opportunity for a letter lesson. On our bathtub, the faucets were installed in the wall and were marked H and C.   I pointed to the H and asked him what letter that was.   He replied, “H”, as he splashed the water about him. With a broad smile, I said, “Good! H stands for hot.   Now, what is this letter?”   I pointed to the faucet on the right.   Today, however, the faucet was turned so the C looked different.   He looked at it intently, beads of water trickling down his face. He answere...

If you visit my website, you can now read the first chapter of my book for free! Please feel free to click on its link below: website All I ask is please leave me a comment. Even to just say "hello" so I know that some people are reading it! Thanks everyone, and I'll talk with you later!! Diane

Do you judge a book by its cover? In other words, do you make up your mind about a person by their appearance? I must admit, I used to think this way. In one of my previous employments, when we interviewed someone for temporary office work, they were immediately categorized as front or back office, depending solely on how they were dressed and presented themselves. I didn’t give this harsh method of classification a second thought until something happened to me a few years ago. I was at Meadows Mall in Las Vegas with my husband Chris and our son. Derek was a baby at the time and we took turns pushing his stroller through the many walkways. I enjoyed the window shopping, Chris not so much and Derek was amusing himself by kicking his legs about. It was in the morning and the mall wasn’t too crowded.   Some spots of the mall were downright deserted.     As we were walking down a long hallway, we caught sight of a guy following us. His jeans were torn, chains were dangling fr...

Oh coupon, I found in the bottom of my purse Promising $1 off an item in my cart Just before going to the checkout I gaze upon the coupon Aghast! Its expiration date is the day before yesterday! Fie! I crumple up the now worthless piece of paper Fellow shoppers, do not stare at me in puzzlement Feel my pain!

This morning a memory washed over me, a vital turning point in my life. It took me back to high school junior year. I was on the phone with my best friend and we were talking about the preparation for our Confirmation.   We were to perform 20 hours of volunteer work, which broke down to 4 hours a week for 5 weeks.   Her mother had found us volunteer work.   We weren’t sure what the volunteer work was going to be, only of the location. We arrived at a historical house in Santa Monica CA. Once inside, it became clear was our work was going to be—the house was in the middle of restoration. The woman who owned it was converting it to a museum and needed volunteers to paint the walls. I felt my stomach drop—I had no idea how to paint, other than my finger and toenails. Our stunned and panicked look must have been her clue, because she gave us a crash course on how to apply paint to a wall with a paint roller. For the next couple of hours we painted. I’m here to tell you it was...

Yesterday, I was sitting at Church and I became aware of a pattern, namely in the congregation’s clothing. Perhaps this wasn’t the best time to be debating why sometimes we match in what we wear. My thoughts should be on a more spiritual level.  Then again, maybe it’s not so bad—after all what I was pondering involved a form of harmony and unity.  Okay, I admit that may be a bit much, but what was going on around me got me thinking.  I was wearing a dark purple blouse. The woman’s shirt in front of me was of a lighter shade. Lastly, the woman before her had on an even paler version of lavender.  Then, I scanned the room and began to see clusters of colors. On the left side, people were wearing variations of turquoise and on the right, shades of green were abundant. Coincidence, or is there some underlying force that caused people wearing the same shade of colors to sit together? There are times at my work when I’ll run into other women that are wearing the same color...