As my last post detailed, I recently did a cover of the 1985’s Tears for Fear classic “Head Over Heels.” Revisiting this song has inspired me to revisit the experience of being “Head Over Heels” — not just in romantic love (which when I was 15 in 1985 pretty much meant dramatically wallowing in unrequited…

Yesterday I started cleaning out my office–my worksite office from the Before Times.  I feel overwhelmed.  I love working at home and feel very fortunate to be able to do so, but the process of getting from “Before” to “After” is daunting. I just don’t feel like I can deal with more stuff in my…

I’ve never given a commencement speech–until recently, when I “graduated” from an online leadership development course. I don’t have a recording of my speech (which is a shame because I was wearing a really cute dress) but here is the text of my short (about three minute) speech. My Graduation Speech “What shows up when…

I’ve never been a bath person. I know that taking a bath is supposed to be the epitome of relaxation, and I know for many people it is. But just the thought of taking a bath stresses me out. Maybe it’s because I’ve never had an appropriately comfortable bathtub or bathroom, or because I’m too…

I couldn’t stop watching the elderly lady who was dancing so vigorously that her white pants seemed in danger of falling down.  The song ended, and her pants did NOT fall down. And it looked like she had a great time dancing (she was definitely very good at it, this lady had moves) and I…

Once upon a time there was a small stuffed bear named Munson. Well, he didn’t start out with that name–Munson got his name when he was adopted by the Middle-Aged Lady* one warm August day in 2016 from the MPR booth at the Minnesota State Fair.  Munson wore a hoodie with the logo of the…

Last month, on May 27 to be precise, Chad and I celebrated our twenty-sixth anniversary.  I would like to make some clever reference to what anniversary this was in terms of traditional gifts, but I’ve learned that the twenty-sixth anniversary isn’t anything. There’s no special gift or title or theme assigned to it. That feels…

Thanks to the badge that popped up on my phone today courtesy of my Garmin watch, I know that today is Global Running Day.  Surprisingly, I did not know about this holiday through social media. Just like back in 2018 when I also blogged about it, I was oblivious: https://amyluedtke.wordpress.com/2018/06/07/happy-global-running-day/.  I did go running this…

It was the smallest of things, it was the biggest of things*: I went to a neighborhood grocery store last week for the first time since COVID quarantining.  It felt normal and extraordinary.  I’ve made no secret about being ambivalent and anxiety-ridden about returning to a Post-COVID life. Most of my angst revolves around my…