Beca’s Blog

We know the story. A man named Jesus, while dying on a cross, said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”* It astonished those who heard him speak. They expected him to speak words of condemnation, and he did not. That is amazing, especially when we think how difficult it can sometimes [...]

Our third floor window looked out onto a stand of trees. During the summer they provided a beautiful green curtain, and in the fall a glorious riot of color. Then one day, fall ended, and the leaves were gone, revealing a different view. Some of it was delightful. I could see the paths through the [...]

Outside my window, the trees were swaying, the clouds were racing across the sky, and the bird feeder was barely staying attached to its post. As I watched these events, it occurred to me that if I didn’t know about the force called wind, I might say that mystery and magic was at work. Why [...]

Have you seen the movie Love Actually? Its full title is Love Actually Is All Around Us and is a lighthearted, slightly irreverent movie, about seeing love everywhere. It points out that if we would just look, we would see that all there is — is love. Which prompts the questions, “What is love actually? [...]

Throughout the years, Star Trek has revealed many life lessons to me, and one of the most important ones is a reminder of how illusions work. It happened in the first Star Trek episode, The Menagerie, which aired in November of 1966. In an attempt to rescue Captain Pike from the Talosians, who were masters [...]

In our get-ahead culture, we expect that all our expectations will be fulfilled. Many self-help and new age teachers have given us specific ideas about how to first know what we want, and then what to do to get our desired results.  We learn to move towards our desires, or magnetize them to us, and [...]

There are always birds at our bird feeder, but one morning I saw them differently. Not just as birds, but as representatives of another viewpoint.  I could say I saw them as if they were aliens, and then perhaps you will feel even more the impact of what I felt, as I saw them differently. [...]

The only constant sound I heard was my feet stumbling a bit on the many small rocks that covered the red dirt trail. Even though homes and the ocean were visible, they were far away, leaving a beautifully soft silence, occasionally broken by a bird trill, or something scurrying in the brush. I was visiting [...]

Asking this question of myself, my immediate and heartfelt answer was, “OMG I hope not.” This line of thinking began one day after a series of events triggered the desire to be somewhere and someone else. They were little things. I am sure you have experienced them. Feeling a bit stiff and sore, catching myself [...]

This morning, I heard the cheerful call of the chickadee, and the “pretty, pretty, pretty” song of the cardinal. It was the sound of spring. Ten minutes later, I heard the sound of hail hitting the roof. It was the sound of winter. It’s warm today; it’s 29 degrees. It’s warm today because last week, [...]

This blog is my participation in The Author’s Blog Chain. Christina Carson tagged me on her blog. I have the honor of being Christina’s friend for many a year, having been introduced by her husband Bert Carson, whom I had met a few years before. He said we would like “talking” to each other. How [...]

I learned to swear in eighth grade.  One of my girlfriends taught me. She didn’t teach me the words; instead, she demonstrated that I could, because she did. I had already learned some of the words from my dad, who only swore at home, and usually as he came down the hall exclaiming loudly as [...]

Life is full of simple lessons. I had one the other day. It made me laugh aloud, and say to myself, “Good grief, Beca.” I was secretly glad no one saw what I had done; like a cat that slips on wet pavement and pretends that it never happened. However, here I am telling the [...]

When my children were little, one of my favorite gifts to give them came about as a solution to not having as much money as I wished to buy them presents. However, before I discovered the solution I did something else. I traded my time for money. I spent one pre-Christmas season working an extra [...]

My husband and I have finished our second viewing of the TV series, Battlestar Galactica. Although, in general I rarely read a book, or watch a show, more than once, at Del’s urging, we began again. This time was even better than the first. This time, I watched it knowing that it ends well. This [...]

Everyone who has ever created something, whether it is a garden, a painting, a book, a dance, a new way to do something, a piece of equipment, a song, a comfortable home, a delicious dish; every one of them, every one of us, has experienced moments of doubt that it will work out. Those moments [...]

I remember the first time I saw a marathon. I was living in downtown Los Angeles in the loft district on Traction Avenue. To get to the event I had walked a few blocks east to Little Tokyo. I passed the many little stores and even the grocery store where I often shopped, but on [...]

When one of our granddaughters was little, Del and I would sit with her while she took a bath. She had a bathtub full of little yellow duckies and her favorite game was lining them all up on the edge of the tub. Once she had them in place, Del would point behind her and [...]

It was the 1990’s and I had decided to return to being a CFP after spending some years trying other ways to make a living. After much soul searching, I decided it would be good for everyone if I returned to what I knew how to do well, for at least a few more years. [...]

A black cat patrols our neighborhood. He lives in the house behind us, but I believe he only visits it for food, and maybe a brief rest. For the rest of the day, and long into the night, he is on the move. Although I have come to admire some of his qualities, we have [...]

Something has changed. Not the obvious-temperature, light, leaves change, seasons–something else caused the birds to descend on the feeders and devour the seeds. Instead of the month it usually takes to eat empty the thistle seed feeder, it took a few days. In Tai Chi, holding the standing-at-the-stake pose with the rest of the class, [...]

At first, I thought it was rain. Completely lost in the book I was reading, it took a few moments to realize that it probably wouldn’t be raining in an airport. I glanced up and saw a woman looking down the hallway, clapping. I started speculating. Was she clapping for a friend? If so, why [...]

Starting in my early teens, and lasting for the next 25 years or so, I collected words and saved them. I read the newspaper and clipped articles that moved me, ideas that opened my eyes, essays that inspired me, and pasted them all into a big journal type book. I read books, watched movies, went [...]

If you are thinking that going to Squirrel School might be a wise life-move, it is a sure sign that you are a part of community that knows a good thing when you see it. Perhaps you are debating whether going to Squirrel School is a worthwhile endeavor. I don’t blame you; after all, some [...]