“Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
~Matthew 5:16
Photo © Copyright 2025 – by Mitch TeemleyClick on any image to enlarge it, read caption, or begin slide show.
“Exit, pursued by a bear.” ~William Shakespeare
“As beautiful as the chance encounter of a sewing machine and an umbrella on an operating table.” ~Lautreamont
“Sometimes in life we can’t grasp the boundary between reality and unreality. The boundary always seems to be shifting. We need to pay close attention to that movement otherwise we won’t know which side we’re on.” ~Haruki Murakami
“So I set my mind to know wisdom and madness and folly. But I learned that this, too, was just chasing after the wind.” ~Ecclesiastes 1:17
“Most of the time, dreams look just like the normal world. It’s your feelings that tell you something’s off.” ~Amy Reed
“There are no coincidences, only mysteries that haven’t been solved, clues that haven’t been placed. Most are blind to the language of the bird overhead, the leaf in our path, the phonographic record stuck in a groove, the unknown caller on the phone.” ~Sara Gran
“Dive again and again into the river of uncertainty. Create in the dark, only then can you recognize the light.” ~Jyrki Vainonen
“Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all.” ~G.K. Chesterton
“(He finally) understood that, despite everything, life was a gift.” ~Albert Camus
“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity”
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
“You never fail until you stop trying.”
“I must be willing to give up what I am in order to become what I will be.”
“The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”
“What a sad era when it is easier to smash an atom than a prejudice.”
“If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called ‘research,’ would it?”
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
“A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.”
“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”
“Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.”
“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science.”
“Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.”
“The best way to cheer yourself is to cheer somebody else up.”
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”
“I want to know God’s thoughts – the rest are mere details.”
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
Note: I’m on a brief hiatus from the My Real Memoir series normally posted on Tuesdays. It will return soon.
Led to the world’s oldest surviving McDonald’s, located in the L.A. suburb of Downey, California. It was built long before Mickey D’s went on to conquer the known universe. Its mascot back then wasn’t a clown, it was an animated neon chef named Speedee. And, in praise of the humble hamburger…
Mom and Dad counted their pennies in those days. Our tiny, novice-level tract home was just blocks away, and so we’d walk there together. It was a big adventure for me since I wasn’t even allowed to cross the street on my own. That was where I learned to order a hamburger “with mustard only.” Just like Dad.
We graduated to a bigger tract home in a brand new suburb. As a newspaper dealer, my father worked seven days a week, so I have very few “just me and Dad” memories. And the ones I do have are tied to the newspaper biz.
There were little boxes made of ticky-tacky everywhere, with brand new lawns just waiting to sprout. And that meant newlywed couples just waiting to subscribe to Dad’s paper, the Herald Express. So he would regularly round up his most enterprising paperboys, which included me, and we’d knock on front doors. Think of me as younger, cuter Jehovah’s Witness.
I was a quick-talking hambone with an irresistible grin (practice makes perfect). So I nearly always claimed the night’s “Most New Subscribers” bonus. Which was great, but putting the look of pride on Dad’s face was my goal, not putting money in my bank account. Afterward, Dad would take us to a local McDonald’s wannabe, Sam’s Burgers, where I’d order a cheeseburger “with mustard-only.” Just like Dad. We’d eat and laugh, just me and Dad, and, oh yeah, the other boys. But, honestly, it seemed like no one else was even there.
Nevertheless, I appreciate a well-grilled gourmet burger with fresh and inventive toppings. And, in praise of the humble hamburger, I still sometimes order a greasy little burger-stand smash-up “with mustard only.” Just like Dad.
Note: Per the very pushy advice of all-knowing SEO (search engine optimizer) gurus, I’ve added headings and subheadings to this post. Oh, and I’m also supposed to keep repeating my keyphrase. So here it is again: In praise of the humble hamburger. There. Happy, gurus? Dear normal non-guru types, what do you think? Should I keep or lose these changes?
‘Future’ by Ahmed Carter (unsplash.com)You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a goodbye
~“Teach Your Children” (Graham Nash)
It’s planning time. But if the 2020s have taught us anything, it’s that our plans, no matter how well-thought-out, can never be certain. Does that mean we shouldn’t make plans? Of course not. But it does remind us to include contingencies, and to brace ourselves for the unforeseeable (worldwide pandemic, AI takeover?).
But there is one thing we can plan with certainty:
Who we will be. Because the key to this kind of planning lies not in knowing what will happen, but in how we’ll respond. What values and truths will we live by? Will they be so inseparable from our character that they inform all of our actions and choices no matter what happens? Will we live out those values in the midst of unforeseen tragedies or windfalls? (Interestingly, more people’s values collapse during the latter than the former.)
Why is this important? It’s important because ultimately it won’t be what we did that mattered…but who we were. So, who will you be in 2026…
And beyond?
Because it seems her reasoning powers
Note: The above poem is a revised version of “Please Don’t Eat the Ribbons,” written when our little cat Misha was still with us. I’d gladly clean up every jolly mess just to have her back again!
I love animals. Not because they’re cute–sometimes they are, sometimes they aren’t. But because there’s something unique about each of them. Animals are as unpredicable as humans. Not just each species, but each individual animal, probably even amoebas. And there’s something miraculous about that. Something I never tire of observing—and participating in, when I can. And I’m pretty sure the Author of life feels the same way.
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The Christmas story has been told many times. And long may it be. Luke’s description of the birth of Jesus 2,000 years ago is read by untold millions of people every year. But the Christmas story is bigger than that. Much bigger. And so the Gospel of John starts further back–before time itself. It tells of the Word, God himself, creating all things, breathing life into the human race, and then in the fullness of time entering into the world he’d made in order to redeem it. Which is why I’m able to wish you a Merry Christmas forever!
In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made, and apart from him not one thing that has been made has come into being. For in Him was life, and that life was the light of all humankind. And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never overcome it.
There was a man named John who was sent by God to bear witness to the Light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the Light, but he came to bear witness to it.
The true Light that enlightens all people was coming into the world. And he was in the world, and yet, though the world was made through Him, it did not recognize him. Then he came to his own, and his own did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And so the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen His glory, as of a Father’s only begotten, full of grace and truth.
He was the one of whom John testified, shouting, “He who comes after me is above me because he was before me.”
And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. For no one has ever seen God. But God the only begotten, who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.
