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Gratitude

Local Columns

This week, as I held my dear friend’s hand, I tried my darndest to focus on gratitude. She is 93 and dying. Frankly, she is looking forward to it. But God hasn’t yet allowed her to cross the threshold from this world to the next and that is testing her patience. She is grateful she is dying, but she would also like to get on with it. I will miss our many conversations over the years we have known each other when one of us says something definitive, to which the other responds amen. There is comfort in knowing your beliefs so parallel those of someone you admire and respect. ...

A Veterans Day to remember

Local Columns

Once in a while, the matter of choosing a subject to write on can become a bit overwhelming. With Veteran’s Day taking place last week and a gathering of our kids and grandkids the same week, I have to admit it was daunting to come up with an individual to cover in this column. So, in ...

Knowledge talks, wisdom listens

Local Columns

When I learned to read I quickly became a little nerd, reading anything I could get my hands on. It’s amazing what a kid can learn by reading, especially when he finds stuff he shouldn’t be reading. That’s a topic for another column. While I have learned a great deal from reading, I’ve learned even more from listening — to parents, mentors, friends and peers. The earliest bit of wisdom I recall was from my mother. “Don’t tell lies!” she warned as we walked to school on the first day of kindergarten. Her words are well-remembered because I apparently was a bit of a ...

A letter to my daughters on the day after

Letters to Editor

My loves, Today will be one of those days that will be seared in my memory. Someday you will probably read about today in history books. Two of you will be too young to remember, and yet, there is so much I want you to know. You won’t remember how I snuggled next to you last night as you fell asleep and sent a silent prayer into the universe to protect you. You won’t remember the midnight tears as I realized a Harris/Walz win was unlikely. The way your dad held me and told me, “The girls will be okay. We will be safe. We can keep them safe,” and how that only made the tears ...

Webster City's first woman mayor

Local Columns

As I write this, all the news (whether it’s fit to print or not) is about the elections of 2024. I am not going to write about politics or anything else quite as controversial. I am, however, going to write about something that does have local historical merit. One of the results of ...

A disturbingly long dream

Local Columns

Listening to the radio while driving down the road recently I heard the 1950s Johnny Tillotson recording “Send Me the Pillow You Dream On.” The song has been covered by many other recording artists over the years. The recording jump-started some semi-deep thoughts on the matter of dreams. While science can explain why we dream and psychologists can help us understand what we dream, the subject of dreams is still filled with mystery. I have always had a weird dream life. One of the earliest dreams I can remember was actually a nightmare. The dream occurred when I was about 3 ...