by suelarkinsweems | Feb 6, 2015 | Mumblings and Misadventures
Last month I started taking piano lessons again for the first time in twenty years (which of course means I quit when I was ten *ahem*). Some things are still accessible—scales and the circle of fifths—the same circle of fifths my grandmother would draw every week in...
by suelarkinsweems | Feb 1, 2015 | Mumblings and Misadventures
The military life makes you acutely aware of lasts. Last Christmas in Okinawa, last cherry blossom season, last dinner with friends (for a while). I thought I would have a couple more months before the PCS tilt-a-whirl began spinning again, but I found myself a little...
by suelarkinsweems | Jan 1, 2015 | Mumblings and Misadventures
A new year is often full of promise, but promises are sometimes heavy. When I woke up this morning, I felt no rush of new energy, no trumpets sounded, no confetti canons burst over my head. In fact, a few minutes of darkness pulled at the edges of my blanket,...
by suelarkinsweems | May 2, 2014 | Mumblings and Misadventures
When my family visited Okinawa last summer, our housekeeper Michiko-San (who comes by to restore order once every two weeks) asked where my family lived in the states. When we told her they were from Arizona, Michiko-San got excited and said her school-friend lived in...
by suelarkinsweems | Mar 8, 2014 | Mumblings and Misadventures
So Lent started this week. I like the idea of mindfulness in these weeks before Easter. Sometimes I even think of preposterous things like, “I should give up sarcasm for 40 days!” But then I remember that would require sedation or a lobotomy. Instead, I’m working on...
by suelarkinsweems | Mar 6, 2014 | Mumblings and Misadventures
I was scrolling through my phone photos recently and laughed at my collection of oddities caught around Okinawa. Ski for your lives, Okinawan Snowmen! Or alternately, sit on the Goya benches and watch. {Scene in front of a new-used-outlet that opened down the street.}...
